Commentary on Psalms 7, 8, 15, 16

Regarding Psalm 7:8, he says that when the judge has come, many assembled nations surround him, signifying the church; and the Lord says that nations shall be gathered to him, and after this has happened, the judge shall ascend to the height, handing over the kingdom.

Regarding Psalm 8:1, just as the Gospel signifies the gathering of fruits in their season, the Word indicates that the fruits are the works and thoughts of men; and according to Isaiah, he says, 'I come to gather their works and their thoughts.'

Regarding Psalm 8:5, the Maker of these great things, he says, cares for a man whose works are entirely small, and he says, 'I will make a memory of one fallen from you and I will visit one brought to sickness'; for his making is precious to you from the beginning, even though it diminished slightly from the angelic glory according to the earthly body. Glory surrounded him as one ruling upon the earth through the works made by you, and he holds all irrational nature to himself, not only the earth which is easily taken, but also the air and the water, each of which escapes human hands—the one because of its height and the other because of its depth and its passage through the waters; yet he is won by wisdom and mind, and the earthly man chooses the things in heaven and the waters; from these he shines forth according to the spiritual, surpassing the irrational and senseless nature of the animals, being a companion to the rational and angelic through the spiritual, though according to the body he is otherwise.

Regarding Psalm 15:4, he speaks of the way of the new piety, the bloodless one, and signifies the change in the Holy Spirit, by which we are no longer the former, not even by the same names, but sons of God rather than sons of men. Regarding Psalm 16:6, for having been heard before, he says, 'I pray to be heard by him now.' For Paul says they pray with thanksgiving; for the memory of former things prepares grace for those to come.

The work and the appearance of those who set themselves against him are revealed; one work is indeed a murderous plotting and flattering words toward an ambush, and they are extremely lean in body, surrounded by bones, looking askance with their eyes like a lion rushing toward a prey and sitting in ambush secretly (Ps 16:10-12). Such was Saul toward David, saying indeed that he had found favor in his eyes and was standing by, commanding and having him stand by, while he was weaving a plot and attempting to kill from an ambush.

A secret punishment has been prepared, he says, for them, which will fit inside their bellies, according to what is said against Judah: 'Let the curse enter into his entrails like water and like oil into his bones' (Ps 16:14c).

Again, he sets apart love toward God through love toward the temple dedicated to him (Ps 26:4). For he who loves God rejoices in the places dedicated to him, not enjoying the desire through the sight of these things (for it is small to be delighted by the works of hands), but just as someone sees a garment of his desire or a book poorly, being raised up through these toward the memory of that thing, so the lover of God is raised up toward God through the house and the vessel laid out for him. 'This one thing I sought, to dwell in the house of the Lord' (Ps 26:8), which Anna does, and to rejoice at the beauty of the building by looking at it. A house, however, has not yet been built for God. When David saw these things, he lifted the word up to the tabernacle and left it to those able to hear spiritually, to lift the word up to the spiritual house.

In such things the theology of the one God appears, containing the Trinity (Ps 32:6). First, God is theologized as Creator, and the creation is the energy of the Word and of the Spirit; and it is evident that the voices are human where mouth is mentioned, from which word and spirit follow, but otherwise they are understood concerning God according to...