Psalm 69

"Save me, O God, for the waters have entered in even unto my soul" [Psalm 69:1]. That grain is despised now, that seems to give forth humble words. In the garden it is buried, though the world will admire the greatness of the herb, of which herb the seed was despised by the Jews. For in very deed observe ye the seed of the mustard, minute, dull coloured, altogether despicable, in order that therein may be fulfilled that which has been said, We have seen Him, and He had neither form nor comeliness. [Isaiah 53:2] But He says, that waters have come in even unto His soul; because those multitudes, which under the name of waters He has pointed out, were able so far to prevail as to kill Christ....Whence then does He so cry out, as though He were suffering something against His will, except because the Head does prefigure the Members? For He suffered because He willed: but the Martyrs even though they willed not; for to Peter thus He foretold his passion: "When you shall be old," He says, "another shall gird you, and lead you whither you will not." [John 21:18] For though we desire to cleave to Christ, yet we are unwilling to die: and therefore willingly or rather patiently we suffer, because no other passage is given us, through which we may cleave to Christ. For if we could in any other way arrive at Christ, that is, at life everlasting, who would be willing to die? For while explaining our nature, that is, a sort of association of soul and body, and in these two parts a kind of intimacy of gluing and fastening together, the Apostle says, that "we have a House not made with hands, everlasting in the Heavens:" [2 Corinthians 5:1] that is, immortality prepared for us, wherewith we are to be clothed at the end, when we shall have risen from the dead; and he says, "Wherein we are not willing to be stripped, but to be clothed upon, that the mortal may be swallowed up of life." [2 Corinthians 5:4] If it might so be, we should so will, he says, to become immortal, as that now that same immortality might come, and now as we are it should change us, in order that this our mortal body by life should be swallowed up, and the body should not be laid aside through death, so as at the end again to have to be recovered. Although then from evil to good things we pass, nevertheless the very passage is somewhat bitter, and has the gall which the Jews gave to the Lord in the Passion, has something sharp to be endured, whereby they are shown that gave Him vinegar to drink. [Matthew 27:34] ...For here both sweet are temporal pleasures, and bitter are temporal tribulations: but who would not drink the cup of tribulation temporal, fearing the fire of hell; and who would not contemn the sweetness of the world, longing for the sweetness of life eternal? From hence that we may be delivered let us cry: lest perchance amidst oppressions we consent to iniquity, and truly irreparably we be swallowed up.

"Fixed I am in the clay of the deep, and there is no substance." What called the clay? Is it those very persons that have persecuted? For out of clay man hath been made. But these men by falling from righteousness have become the clay of the deep, and whosoever shall not have consented to them persecuting and desiring to draw him to iniquity, out of his clay doth make gold. For the clay of the same shall merit to be converted into a heavenly form, and to be made associate of those of whom saith the Title of the Psalm, "in behalf of them that shall be changed." But at the time when these were the clay of the deep. I stuck in them: that is, they held Me, prevailed against Me, killed Me. "Fixed" then "I am in the clay of the deep, and there is no substance." What is this, "there is no substance"? Can it be that clay itself is not a substance? What is then, "fixed I am"? Can it be that Christ hath thus stuck? Or hath He stuck, and was not, as hath been said in the book of Job, "the earth delivered into the hands of the ungodly man"? Was He fixed in body, because it could be held, and suffered even crucifixion? For unless with nails He had been fixed, crucified He had not been. Whence then "there is no substance"? Is that clay not a substance? But we shall understand, if it be possible, what is, "and there is no substance," if first we shall have understood what is a substance. For there is substance spoken of even of riches, as we say, he hath substance, and he hath lost substance. ...God made man, He made substance; and O that he had continued in that which God made Him! If man had continued in that which God made him, in him would not have been fixed He whom God begot. But moreover because through iniquity man fell from the substance wherein he was made (for iniquity itself is no substance; for iniquity is not a nature which God formed, but a perverseness which man made); the Son of God came to the clay of the deep, and was fixed; and that was no substance wherein He was fixed, because in the iniquity of them He was fixed. "All things by Him were made, and without Him there was made nothing." All natures by Him were made, iniquity by Him was not made, because iniquity was not made. Those substances by Him were made, which praise Him. ...For vices out of ourselves and out of our own will we have: and vices are not a substance. In these was fixed the Lord, when He suffered persecution: in the vice of the Jews, not in the substance of men which by Him was made.

"I have laboured, crying, hoarse have become my jaws." Where was this? When was this? Let us question the Gospel. For the Passion of our Lord in this Psalm we perceive. And, indeed, that He suffered we know; that there came in waters even unto His Soul, because peoples prevailed even unto His death, we read, we believe; in the tempest that He was sunk down, because tumult prevailed to His killing, we acknowledge: but that He laboured in crying, and that His jaws were made hoarse, not only we read not, but even on the contrary we read, that He answered not to them a word, in order that there might be fulfilled that which in another Psalm hath been said, "I have become as it were a man not hearing, and having not in his mouth reproofs." And that which in Isaiah hath been prophesied, "like a sheep to be sacrificed He was led, and like a lamb before one shearing Him, so He opened not His mouth." If He became like a man not hearing, and having not in His mouth reproofs, how did He labour crying, and how were His jaws made hoarse? Is it that He was even then silent, because He was hoarse with having cried so much in vain? And this indeed we know to have been His voice on the Cross out of a certain Psalm: "O God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" But how great was that voice, or of how long duration, that in it His jaws should have become hoarse? Long while He cried, "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees:" long while He cried, "Woe unto the world because of offences." And truly hoarse in a manner He cried, and therefore was not understood, when the Jews said, What is this that He saith? "Hard is this saying, who is able to hear it?" We know not what He saith. He said all these words: but hoarse were His jaws to them that understood not His words. "Mine eyes have failed from hoping in My God." Far be it that this should be taken of the person of the Head: far be it that His eyes should have failed from hoping in His God: in whom rather there was God reconciling the world to Himself, and Who was the Word made flesh and dwelled in us, so that not only God was in Him, but also He was Himself God. Not so then: the eyes of Himself, our Head, failed not from hoping in His God: but the eyes of Him have failed in His Body, that is, in His members. This voice is of the members, this voice is of the Body, not of the Head. How then do we find it in His Body and members?...

And in Him the prince of this world, that is, of this darkness, had nothing; for neither did He come with sin as God, nor had His flesh any hereditary taint of sin in its procreation by the Virgin. And, as if it were said to Him, Why, then, dost Thou die, if Thou hast no sin to merit the punishment of death? He immediately added, "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do: arise, let us go hence." For He was sitting at table with those who were similarly occupied. But "let us go," He said, and whither, but to the place where He, who had nothing in Him deserving of death, was to be delivered up to death? But He had the Father's commandment to die, as the very One of whom it had been foretold, "Then I paid for that which I took not away;" and so appointed to pay death to the full, while owing it nothing, and to redeem us from the death that was our due. For Adam had seized on sin as a prey, when, deceived, he presumptuously stretched forth his hand to the tree, and attempted to invade the incommunicable name of that Godhead which was disallowed him, and with which the Son of God was endowed by nature, and not by robbery.

"O God, You have known mine improvidence" [Psalm 69:5]. Again out of the mouth of the Body. For what improvidence is there in Christ? Is He not Himself the Virtue of God, and the Wisdom of God? Does He call this His improvidence, whereof the Apostle speaks, "the foolishness of God is wiser than men"? [1 Corinthians 1:25] Mine improvidence, that very thing which in Me they derided that seem to themselves to be wise, You have known why it was done. For what was so much like improvidence, as, when He had it in His power with one word to lay low the persecutors, to suffer Himself to be held, scourged, spit upon, buffeted, with thorns to be crowned, to the tree to be nailed? It is like improvidence, it seems a foolish thing; but this foolish thing excels all wise men. Foolish indeed it is: but even when grain falls into the earth, if no one knows the custom of husbandmen, it seems foolish...Improvidence it appears; but hope makes it not to be improvidence. He then spared not Himself: because even the Father spared Him not, but delivered Him up for us all. [Romans 8:32] And of the Same, "Who loved me," says the Apostle, "and delivered up Himself for me:" [Galatians 2:20] for except a grain shall have fallen into the land so that it die, fruit, He says, it will not yield. [John 12:24] This is the improvidence. "And my transgressions from You are not concealed." It is plain, clear, open, that this must be perceived to be out of the mouth of the Body. Transgressions none had Christ: He was the bearer of transgressions, but not the committer. "Are not concealed:" that is, I have confessed to You, all my transgressions, and before my mouth You have seen them in my thought, hast seen the wounds which You were to heal. But where? Even in the Body, in the members: in those believers out of whom there was now cleaving to Him that member, who was confessing his sins.

"An alien I have become to My brethren, and a stranger to the sons of My mother" [Psalm 69:8]. To the sons of the Synagogue He became a stranger...Why so? Why did they not acknowledge? Why did they call Him an alien? Why did they dare to say, we know not whence He is? "Because the zeal of Your House has eaten Me up:" that is, because I have persecuted in them their own iniquities, because I have not patiently borne those whom I have rebuked, because I have sought Your glory in Your House, because I have scourged them that in the Temple dealt unseemly: [John 2:15] in which place also there is quoted, "the zeal of Your House has eaten Me up." Hence an alien, hence a Stranger; hence, we know not whence He is. They would have acknowledged whence I am, if they had acknowledged that which You have commanded. For if I had found them keeping Your commandments, the zeal of Your House would not have eaten Me up. "And the reproaches of men reproaching You have fallen upon Me." Of this testimony Paul the Apostle has also made use (there has been read but now the very lesson), and says, "Whatsoever things aforetime have been written, have been written that we might be instructed." [Romans 15:4] ...Why "You"? Is the Father reproached, and not Christ Himself? Why have "the reproaches of men reproaching You fallen upon Me"? Because, "he that has known Me, has known the Father also:" [John 14:9] because no one has reviled Christ without reviling God: because no one honours the Father, except he that honours the Son also. [John 5:23]

"And I have covered in fasting My Soul, and it became to Me for a reviling" [Psalm 69:10]. His fasting was, when there fell away all they that had believed in Him; because also it was His hunger, that men should believe in Him: because also it was His thirst, when He said to the woman, I thirst, "give Me to drink:" [John 4:7] yea for her faith He was thirsting. And from the Cross when He was saying, "I thirst," [John 19:28] He was seeking the faith of them for whom He had said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." [Luke 23:34] But what did those men give to drink to Him thirsty? Vinegar. Vinegar is also called old. With reason of the old man they gave to drink, because they willed not to be new. Why willed they not to become new? Because to the title of this Psalm whereon is written, "For them that shall be changed," they belonged not. Therefore, "I have covered in fasting My Soul." Lastly, He put from Him even the gall which they offered: He chose rather to fast than to accept bitterness. For they enter not into His Body that are embittered, whereof in another place a Psalm says, "They that are embittered shall not be exalted in themselves." Therefore, "I have covered in fasting My Soul: and it became to Me for a reviling." This very thing became to Me for a reviling, that I consented not to them, that is, from them I fasted. For he that consents not to men seducing to evil, fasts from them; and through this fasting earns reviling, so that he is upbraided because he consents not to the evil thing.

"Against Me were reviling they that were sitting in the gate" [Psalm 69:12]. "In the gate" is nothing else but in public. "And against Me they were chanting, they that were drinking wine." Do ye think, brethren, that this has befallen Christ alone? Daily to Him in His members it happens: whenever perchance it is necessary for the servant of God to forbid excess of wine and luxuries in any village or town, where there has not been heard the Word of God, it is not enough that they sing, nay more even against him they begin to sing, by whom they are forbidden to sing. Compare ye now His fasting and their wine.

"But I with My prayer with You, O Lord" [Psalm 69:13]. But I was with You. But how? With You by praying. For when you are evil spoken of, and know not what you may do; when at you are hurled reproaches, and you find not any way of rebuking him by whom they are hurled; nothing remains for you but to pray. But remember even for that very man to pray. "But I with my prayer with You, O Lord. It is the time of Your good pleasure, O God." For behold the grain is being buried, there shall spring up fruit. "It is the time of Your good pleasure, O God." Of this time even the Prophets have spoken, whereof the Apostle makes mention: "Behold now the time acceptable, behold now the day of salvation." [2 Corinthians 6:2] "It is the time of Your good pleasure, O God. In the multitude of Your mercy." This is the time of good pleasure, "in the multitude of Your mercy." For if there were not a multitude of Your mercy, what should we do for the multitude of our iniquity? "In the multitude of Your mercy; Hearken to me in the truth of Your Salvation." Because He has said, "of Your mercy," he has added truth also: for "mercy and truth" are all the ways of the Lord. Why mercy? In forgiving sins. Why truth? In fulfilling the promises.

"Save Me from the mire, that I may not stick" [Psalm 69:14]. From that whereof above he had spoken, "Fixed I am in the clay of the deep, and there is no substance." Furthermore, since you have duly received the exposition of that expression, in this place there is nothing further for you to hear particularly. From hence he says that he must be delivered, wherein before he said that he was fixed: "Save Me from the mire, that I may not stick." And he explains this himself: "Let Me be rescued from them that hate Me." They were themselves therefore the clay wherein he had stuck. But the following perchance suggests itself. A little before he had said, Fixed I am; now he says, Save Me from the mire, that I may not stick: whereas after the meaning of what was said before he ought to have said, Save Me from the mire where I had stuck, by rescuing Me, not by causing that I stick not. Therefore He had stuck in flesh, but had not stuck in spirit. He says this, because of the infirmity of His members. Whenever perchance you are seized by one that urges you to iniquity, your body indeed is taken, in regard to the body you are fixed in the clay of the deep: but so long as you consent not, you have not stuck; but if you consent, you have stuck. Let then your prayer be in that place, in order that as your body is now held, so your soul may not be held, so you may be free in bonds.

"Hearken unto me, O Lord, for sweet is Your mercy" [Psalm 69:16]. He has given this as a reason why He ought to be hearkened unto, because sweet is the mercy of God....To a man set in trouble the mercy of God must needs be sweet. Concerning this sweetness of the mercy of God see ye what in another place the Scripture says: "Like rain in drought, so beautiful is the mercy of God in trouble." [Sirach 35:20] That which there he says to be "beautiful," the same he says here to be "sweet." Not even bread would be sweet, unless hunger had preceded. Therefore even when the Lord permits or causes us to be in any trouble, even then He is merciful: for He does not withdraw nourishment, but stirs up longing. Accordingly what says he now, "Hearken to me, O Lord, for sweet is Your mercy"? Now do not defer hearkening, in so great trouble I am, that sweet to me is Your mercy. For to this end You deferred to succour, in order that to me that wherewith You succoured might be sweet: but now no longer is there cause why You must defer; my trouble has arrived at the appointed measure of distress, let Your mercy come to do the work of goodness. "After the multitude of Your pities have regard unto me:" not after the multitude of my sins.

"Turn not away Your face from Your child" [Psalm 69:17]. And this is a commending of humility; "from Your child," that is, "from Your little one:" because now I have been rid of pride through the discipline of tribulation, "turn not away Your face from Your child." This is that beautiful mercy of God, whereof he spoke above. For in the following verse he explains that whereof he spoke: "For I am troubled, speedily hearken unto me." What is "speedily"? Now there is no cause why You must defer it: I am troubled, my affliction has gone before; let Your mercy follow.

"Give heed to my soul, and redeem her," does need no exposition: let us see therefore what follows. "Because of mine enemies deliver me" [Psalm 69:18]. This petition is evidently wonderful, neither briefly to be touched upon, nor hastily to be skipped over; truly wonderful: "Because of mine enemies deliver me." What is, "Because of mine enemies deliver me"?...I see no reason for this petition, "Because of mine enemies deliver me:" unless we understand it of something else, which when I shall have spoken by the help of the Lord, He shall judge in you, that dwells in you. There is a kind of secret deliverance of holy men: this for their own sakes is made. There is one public and evident: this is made because of their enemies, either for their punishment, or for their deliverance. For truly God delivered not the brothers in the book of Maccabees from the fires of the persecutor. [2 Maccabbees vii] ...But again the Three Children openly were delivered from the furnace of fire; [Daniel 3:26] because their body also was rescued, their safety was public. The former were in secret crowned, the latter openly delivered: all however saved....There is then a secret deliverance, there is an open deliverance. Secret deliverance does belong to the soul, open deliverance to the body as well. For in secret the soul is delivered, openly the body. Again, if so it be, in this Psalm the voice of the Lord let us acknowledge: to the secret deliverance does belong that whereof he spoke above, "Give heed to my soul, and redeem her." There remains the body's deliverance: for on His arising and ascending into the Heavens, and sending the Holy Ghost from above, there were converted to His faith they that at His death did rage, and out of enemies they were made friends through His grace, not through their righteousness. Therefore he has continued, "Because of mine enemies deliver me. Give heed to my soul," but this in secret: but "because of mine enemies deliver" even my body. For mine enemies it will profit nothing if soul alone You shall have delivered; that they have done something, that they have accomplished something, they will believe. "What profit is there in my blood, while I go down into corruption?" Therefore "give heed to my soul, and redeem her," which You alone know: secondly also, "because of mine enemies deliver me," that my flesh may not see corruption.

"In Your sight are all they that trouble Me" [Psalm 69:20]. Why I have reproach, You know; why confusion, You know; why shame, You know: therefore deliver me because of mine enemies, because You know these things of me, they know not; and thus, because they are themselves in Your sight, not knowing these things, they will not be able to be either confounded or corrected, unless openly You shall have delivered me because of mine enemies. "Reproach my heart has expected, and misery." What is, "has expected"? Hath foreseen these things as going to be, has foretold them as going to be. For He came not for any other purpose. If He had been unwilling to die, neither would He have willed to be born: for the sake of resurrection He did both. For there were two particular things known to us among mankind, but one thing unknown. For we knew that men were born and died: that they rose again and lived for everlasting we knew not. That He might show to us that which we knew not, He took upon Him the two things which we knew. To this end therefore He came. "Reproach my heart has expected and misery." But the misery of whom? For He expected misery, but rather of the crucifiers, rather of the persecutors, that in them should be misery, in Him mercy. For pitying the misery of them even while hanging on the Cross, He says, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." [Luke 23:34] What then did it profit, that I expected? That is, what did it profit that I foretold? What did it profit that I said to this end I had come? I came to fulfil that which I said, "I waited for one that together should be made sorrowful, and there was not; and men comforting, and I found not:" that is, there was none. For that which in the former verse He said, "I waited for one that together should be made sorrowful," the same is in the following verse, "and men comforting." But that which in the former verse is, "and there was not;" the same in the following verse is, "and I found not." Therefore another sentence is not added, but the former is repeated. Which sentence if we reconsider, a question may arise. For were His disciples nowise made sorrowful when He was led to the Passion, when on the tree hanged, when dead? So much were they made sorrowful, that Mary Magdalene, who first saw Him, rejoicing told them as they were mourning what she had seen. The Gospel speaks of these things: it is not our presumption, not our suspicion: it is evident that the disciples grieved, it is evident that they mourned. Strange women were weeping, when to the Passion He was being led, unto whom turning He says, "Weep ye, but for yourselves, do not for Me." [Luke 23:28] ... Peter certainly loved very much, and without hesitation threw himself to walk on the waves, [Matthew 14:29] and at the voice of the Lord he was delivered: and though following Him when led to the Passion, with the boldness of love, yet being troubled, thrice he denied Him. Whence, except because an evil thing it seemed to him to die? For he was shunning that which he thought an evil thing. This then even in the Lord he was lamenting, which he was himself shunning. On this account even before he had said, "Far be it from You, O Lord, merciful be to Yourself: there shall not come to pass this thing:" [Matthew 16:22] at which time he merited to hear, "Satan;" after that he had heard, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jona." Therefore in that sorrowfulness which the Lord felt because of those for whom He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do:" [Luke 23:34] no companion He found. "And I waited for one that together should be made sorrowful, and there was not." There was not at all. "And men comforting, and I found not." Who are men comforting? Men profiting. For they comfort us, they are the comfort of all preachers of the Truth.

For the apostle vituperated and abominated some who, as he said, were "without natural affection." The sacred Psalmist also found fault with those of whom he said, "I looked for some to lament with me, and there was none." For to be quite free from pain while we are in this place of misery is only purchased, as one of this world's literati perceived and remarked, at the price of blunted sensibilities both of mind and body.

And they gave Him gall to drink, and this to insult Him, but He would not. But another saith, that having tasted it, He said, "It is finished." And what meaneth, "It is finished?" The prophecy was fulfilled concerning Him. "For they gave me," it is said, "gall for my meat, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." But neither doth that evangelist indicate that He drank, for merely to taste differs not from not drinking, but hath one and the same signification.

"And they gave for My food gall, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink" [Psalm 69:22]. This was done indeed to the letter. And the Gospel declares this to us. But we must understand, brethren, that the very fact that I found not comforters, that the very fact that I found not one that together should be made sorrowful, this was My gall, this to Me was bitter, this was vinegar: bitter because of grief, vinegar because of their old man. For we read, that to Him indeed gall was offered, as the Gospel speaks; but for drink, not for food. [Matthew 27:34] Nevertheless, we must so take and consider that when fulfilled, which here had been before predicted, "They gave for My food gall:" and in that very action, not only in this saying, we ought to seek for a mystery, at secret things to knock, to enter the rent veil of the Temple, to see there a Sacrament, both in what there has been said and in what there has been done. "They gave," He says, "for My food gall:" not the thing itself which they gave was food, for it was drink: but "for food they gave it." Because already the Lord had taken food, and into it there had been thrown gall. But He had taken Himself pleasant food, when He ate the Passover with His disciples: therein He showed the Sacrament of His Body. Unto this food so pleasant, so sweet, of the Unity of Christ, of which the Apostle makes mention, saying, "For one bread, One Body, being many we are;" [1 Corinthians 10:17] unto this pleasant food who is there that adds gall, except the gainsayers of the Gospel, like those persecutors of Christ? For less the Jews sinned in crucifying Him walking on earth, than they that despise Him sitting in Heaven. That which then the Jews did, in giving above the food which He had already taken that bitter draught to drink, the same they do that by evil living bring scandal upon the Church: the same do embittered heretics, "But let them not be exalted in their own selves." They give gall after so delectable meat. But what does the Lord? He admits them not to His Body. In this mystery, when they presented gall, the Lord Himself tasted, and would not drink. [Matthew 27:34] If we did not suffer them, neither at all should we taste: but because it is necessary to suffer them, we must needs taste. But because in the members of Christ such sort cannot be, they can be tasted, received into the Body they cannot be. "And they gave for My food gall, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink." I was thirsting, and vinegar I received: that is, for the faith of them I longed, and I found oldness.

But the Jews who slew him, and would not believe in him, because it behoved him to die and rise again, were yet more miserably wasted by the Romans, and utterly rooted out from their kingdom, where aliens had already ruled over them, and were dispersed through the lands (so that indeed there is no place where they are not), and are thus by their own Scriptures a testimony to us that we have not forged the prophecies about Christ. And very many of them, considering this, even before his passion, but chiefly after his resurrection, believed on him, of whom it was predicted, "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved." But the rest are blinded, of whom it was predicted, "Let their table be made before them a trap, and a retribution, and a stumbling-block. Let their eyes be darkened lest they see, and bow down their back alway." Therefore, when they do not believe our Scriptures, their own, which they blindly read, are fulfilled in them, lest perchance any one should say that the Christians have forged these prophecies about Christ which are quoted under the name of the sibyl, or of others, if such there be, who do not belong to the Jewish people.

"Let the table of them be made in their own presence for a trap" [Psalm 69:23]. Like the trap which for Me they set, in giving Me such a draught, let such a trap be for them. Why then, "in their own presence"? "Let the table of them be made for a trap," would have been sufficient. They are such as know their iniquity, and in it most obstinately do persevere: in their own presence there is made a trap for them. These are they that, being too destructive, "go down into Hell alive." Lastly, of persecutors what has been said? Except that the Lord were in us, perchance alive they had swallowed us up. What is alive? Consenting to them, and knowing that we ought not to consent to them. Therefore in their own presence there is made a trap, and they are not amended. Even though in their own presence there is a trap, let them not fall into it. Behold they know the trap, and thrust out foot, and bow their necks to be caught. How much better were it to turn away from the trap, to acknowledge sin, to condemn error, to be rid of bitterness, to pass over into the Body of Christ, to seek the Lord's glory! But so much prevails presumption of mind, that even in their own presence the trap is, and they fall into it. "Let the eyes of them be darkened, that they see not," follows here: that whereas without benefit they have seen, it may chance to them even not to see. "Let the table of them," therefore, "be made in their own presence for a trap." It is not from one wishing, but from one prophesying: not in order that it may come to pass, but because it will come to pass. This we have often remarked, and you ought to remember it: lest that which the prescient mind says in the Spirit of God, it should seem with ill will to imprecate....Let it then be done to them, "both for a requital and for a stumbling-block." And is this by any means unjust? It is just. Why? For it is "for a requital." For not anything would happen to them, which was not owed. "For a requital" it is done, "and for a stumbling-block:" for they are themselves a stumbling-block to themselves.

"Let the eyes of them be darkened, that they see not, and the back of them always bow down" [Psalm 69:24]. This is a consequence. For they, whose eyes have been darkened that they see not, it follows, must have their back bowed down. How so? Because when they have ceased to take knowledge of things above, they must needs think of things below. He that well hears, "lift up the heart," a bowed back has not. For with stature erect he looks for the hope laid up for him in Heaven; most especially if he send before him his treasure, whither his heart follows. [Matthew 6:21] But, on the other hand, they perceive not the hope of future life; already being blinded, they think of things below: and this is to have a bowed back: from which disorder the Lord delivered that woman. For Satan has bound her eighteen years, and her that was bowed down He raised up: [Luke 13:16] and because on the Sabbath He did it, the Jews were scandalized; suitably were they scandalized at her being raised up, themselves being bowed.

"Pour forth upon them Your anger, and let the indignation of Your anger overtake them" [Psalm 69:25], are plain words: but nevertheless, in "overtake them" we perceive them as it were fleeing. But whither are they to flee? Into Heaven? You are there. Into Hell? You are present. Their wings they will not take to fly straight: "Let the indignation of Your anger overtake them," let it not permit them to escape.

"Let the habitation of them become forsaken." This is now evident. For in the same manner as He hath mentioned not only a secret deliverance of His, saying, "Give heed to My soul, and redeem her;" but also one open after the body, adding, "because of mine enemies deliver me:" so also to these men He foretelleth how there are to be certain secret misfortunes, whereof a little before He was speaking. ...For the blindness of the Jews was secret vengeance: but the open was what? "Let their habitation become forsaken, and in their tabernacles let there not be any one to inhabit." There hath come to pass this thing in the very city Jerusalem, wherein they thought themselves mighty in crying against the Son of God, "Crucify, Crucify;" and in prevailing because they were able to kill Him that raised dead men. How mighty to themselves, how great, they seemed! There followed afterwards the vengeance of the Lord, stormed was the city, utterly conquered the Jews, slain were I know not how many thousands of men. No one of the Jews is permitted to come thither now: where they were able to cry against the Lord, there by the Lord they are not permitted to dwell. They have lost the place of their fury: and O that even now they would know the place of their rest! What profit to them was Caiaphas in saying, "If we shall have let go this man thus, there will come the Romans, and take away from us both place and kingdom"? Behold, both they did not let Him go alive, and He liveth: and there have come the Romans, and have taken from them both place and kingdom. But now we heard, when the Gospel was being read, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered together thy sons, as a hen her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold there is left to you your house forsaken."

Why so? "For Him whom Thou hast smitten they have themselves persecuted, and upon the pain of my wounds they have added." How then have they sinned if they have persecuted one by God smitten? What sin is ascribed to their mind? Malice. For the thing was done in Christ which was to be. To suffer indeed He had come, and He punished him through whom He suffered. For Judas the traitor was punished, and Christ was crucified: but us He redeemed by His blood, and He punished him in the matter of his price. For he threw down the price of silver, for which by him the Lord had been sold; and he knew not the price wherewith he had himself by the Lord been redeemed. This thing was done in the case of Judas. But when we see that there is a sort of measure of requital in all men, and that not any one can be suffered to rage more than he hath received power to do: how have they "added," or what is that smiting of the Lord? Without doubt He is speaking in the person of him from whom He had received a body, from whom He had taken unto Him flesh, that is in the person of mankind, of Adam himself who was smitten with the first death because of his sin. Mortal therefore here are men born, as born with their punishment: to this punishment they add, whosoever do persecute men. For now here man would not have had to die, unless God had smitten him. Why then dost thou, O man, rage more than this? Is it little for a man that some time he is to die? Each one of us therefore beareth his punishment: to this punishment they would add that persecute us. This punishment is the smiting of the Lord. For the Lord smote man with the sentence: "What day ye shall have touched it," He saith, "with death ye shall die." Out of this death He had taken upon Him flesh, and our old man hath been crucified together with Him. By the voice of that man He hath said these words, "Him whom Thou hast smitten they have themselves persecuted, and upon the pain of My wounds they have added." Upon what pain of wounds? Upon the pain of sins they have themselves added. For sins He hath called His wounds. But do not look to the Head, consider the Body; according to the voice whereof hath been said by the Same in that Psalm, wherein He showed there was His voice, because in the first verse thereof He cried from the Cross, "God, My God, look upon Me, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" There in continuation He saith, "Afar from My safety are the words of Mine offences."...

"Lay iniquity upon their iniquity" [Psalm 69:28]. What is this? Who would not be afraid? To God is said, "Lay iniquity upon their iniquity." Whence shall God lay iniquity? For has He iniquity to lay? For we know that to be true which has been spoken through Paul the Apostle, "What then shall we say? Is there anywise iniquity with God? Far be it." [Romans 9:14] Whence then, "Lay iniquity upon iniquity"? How must we understand this? May the Lord be with us, that we may speak, and because of your weariness may be able to speak briefly. Their iniquity was that they killed a just Man: there was added another, that they crucified the Son of God. Their raging was as though against a man: but "if they had known, the Lord of Glory they had never crucified." [1 Corinthians 2:8] They with their own iniquity willed to kill as it were a man: there was laid iniquity upon their own iniquity, so that the Son of God they should crucify. Who laid this iniquity upon them? He that said, "Perchance they will reverence My Son," [Matthew 21:37] Him I will send. For they were wont to kill servants sent to them, to demand rent and profit. He sent the Son Himself, in order that Him also they might kill. He laid iniquity upon their own iniquity. And these things did God do in wrath, or rather in just requital? For, "May it be done to them," He says, "for a requital and for a stumbling-block." They had deserved to be so blinded as not to know the Son of God. And this God did, laying iniquity upon their iniquity; not in wounding, but in not making whole. For in like manner as you increase a fever, increasest a disorder, not by adding disorder, but by not relieving: so because they were of such sort as that they merited not to be healed, in their very naughtiness in a manner they advanced; as it is said, "But evil men and wicked doers advance for the worse:" [2 Timothy 3:13] and iniquity is laid upon their own iniquity. "And let them not enter in Your righteousness." This is a plain thing.

"Let them be blotted out from the book of the living" [Psalm 69:29]. For had they been some time written therein? Brethren, we must not so take it, as that God writes any one in the book of life, and blots him out. If a man said, "What I have written I have written," [John 19:22] concerning the title where it had been written, "King of the Jews:" does God write any one, and blot him out? He foreknows, He has predestined all before the foundation of the world that are to reign with His Son in life everlasting. [Romans 8:29] These He has written down, these same the Book of Life does contain. Lastly, in the Apocalypse, what says the Spirit of God, when the same Scripture was speaking of the oppressions that should be from Antichrist? "There shall give consent to him all they that have not been written in the book of life." [Revelation 13:8] So then without doubt they will not consent that have been written. How then are these men blotted out from that book wherein they were never written? This has been said according to their own hope, because they thought of themselves that they were written. What is, "let them be blotted out from the book of life"? Even to themselves let it be evident, that they were not there. By this method of speaking has been said in another Psalm, "There shall fall from Your side a thousand, and tens of thousands from on Your right hand:" that is, many men shall be offended, even out of that number who thought that they would sit with You, even out of that number who thought that they would stand at Your right hand, being severed from the left-hand goats: [Matthew 25:33] not that when any one has there stood, he shall afterwards fall, or when any one with Him has sat, he shall be cast away; but that many men were to fall into scandal, who already thought themselves to be there, that is, many that thought that they would sit with You, many that hoped that they would stand at the right hand, will themselves fall. So then here also they that hoped as though by the merit of their own righteousness themselves to have been written in the book of God, they to whom is said, "Search the Scriptures, wherein ye think yourselves to have life eternal:" [John 5:39] when their condemnation shall have been brought even to their own knowledge, shall be effaced from the book of the living, they shall know themselves not to be there. For the verse which follows, explains what has been said: "And with just men let them not be written." I have said then "Let them be effaced," according to their hope: but according to Your justice I say what?

"Poor and sorrowful I am" [Psalm 69:30]. Why this? Is it that we may acknowledge that through bitterness of soul this poor One does speak evil? For He has spoken of many things to happen to them. And as if we were saying to Him, "Why such things?"— "Nay, not so much!" He answers, "poor and sorrowful I am." They have brought Me to want, unto this sorrow they have set Me down, therefore I say these words. It is not, however, the indignation of one cursing, but the prediction of one prophesying. For He was intending to recommend to us certain things which hereafter He says of His poverty and His sorrow, in order that we may learn to be poor and sorrowful. For, "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." [Matthew 5:3] And, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." This therefore He does Himself before now show to us: and so, "poor and sorrowful I am." The whole Body of Him says this. The Body of Christ in this earth is poor and sorrowful. But let Christians be rich. Truly if Christians they are, they are poor; in comparison with the riches celestial for which they hope, all their gold they count for sand. "And the health of Your countenance, O God, has taken Me up." Is this poor One anywise forsaken? When do you deign to bring near to your table a poor man in rags? But again, this poor One the health of the countenance of God has taken up: in His countenance He has hidden His need. For of Him has been said, "You shall hide them in the hiding place of Your countenance." But in that countenance what riches there are would ye know? Riches here give you this advantage, that you may dine on what you will, whenever you will: but those riches, that you may never hunger.

"And the health of Thy countenance, O God, hath taken Me up." For what purpose? In order that no longer I may be poor, no longer sorrowful? "I will praise the name of the Lord with a song, I will magnify Him in praise." Now it hath been said, this poor One praiseth the name of the Lord with a song, he magnifieth Him in praise. When would He have ventured to sing, unless He had been refreshed from hunger? "I will magnify Him with praise." O vast riches! What jewels of God's praise hath he brought out of his inward treasures! These are my riches! "The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away." Then miserable he hath remained? Far be it. See the riches: "As it hath pleased the Lord, so hath been done, be the name of the Lord blessed."

"And it shall please God:" that I shall praise Him, shall please: "above a new calf, bearing horns and hoofs." More grateful to Him shall be the sacrifice of praise than the sacrifice of a calf. "The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me." "Immolate to God the sacrifice of praise." So then His praise going forth from my mouth shall please God more than a great victim led up to His altar....Therefore above this calf my praising shall please You, such as hereafter will be, after poverty and sorrow, in the eternal society of Angels, where neither adversary there shall be in battle to be tossed, nor sluggard from earth to be stirred up. "Let the needy see and rejoice" [Psalm 69:32]. Let them believe, and in hope be glad. Let them be more needy, in order that they may deserve to be filled: lest while they belch out pride's satiety, there be denied them the bread whereon they may healthily live. "Seek the Lord," ye needy, hunger ye and thirst; [Matthew 5:6] for He is Himself the living bread that came down from Heaven. [John 6:33, 51] "Seek the Lord, and your soul shall live." You seek bread, that your flesh may live: the Lord seek ye, that your soul may live. [Isaiah 55:3]

"Let there praise Him heavens and earth, sea and all things creeping in them" [Psalm 69:34]. The true riches of this poor man are these, to consider the creation, and to praise the Creator. "Let there praise Him heavens and earth, sea and all things creeping therein." And does this creation alone praise God, when by considering of it God is praised?

Hear thou another thing also: "for God shall save Sion" [Psalm 69:35]. He restores His Church, the faithful Gentiles He does incorporate with His Only-Begotten; He beguiles not them that believe in Him of the reward of His promise. "For God shall save Sion; and there shall be built the cities of Juda." These same are the Churches. Let no one say, when shall it come to pass that there be built the cities of Juda? O that you would acknowledge the Edifice, and be a living stone, that you might enter into Her. Even now the cities of Juda are being built. For Juda is interpreted confession. By confession of humility there are being built the cities of Juda: in order that there may remain without the proud, who blush to confess.