The Earth and its Fullness

"They drink intoxicatingly by night." In darkness and ignorance, these people drink. But those who drink, having taken a divine drink—that is, having been made glad—drink in a sober way. "Eat, drink, be intoxicated, brothers," the Bridegroom says in the Song of Songs (Song of Songs 5:1). The "be intoxicated" does not mean this, not "be strengthened" from wine, but "be made glad."

And "your mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:6). Your mercy is as if "I have anointed my head" (Psalm 23:5); it does not anoint my head for a little while, but always; since it is near to me, and thus every one of the anointed ones becomes a Christ eternally. Therefore "all the days of my life" pursues me; it does not allow me to become distant from it; for it is close by, since it is present to me, and thus every one of the anointed ones becomes a Christ eternally. It no longer dwells for a day or two, but for "all the days of my life." And "all the days of life" takes in the illuminations of the soul having come from the sun of righteousness.

A Psalm to David; of the first Sabbath. The superscription is appropriate; for it is for the one day of the Sabbaths. "One of the Sabbath"; the eighth following. This also is the first of the Sabbath. For since it is a beginning of a cycle of a week, it is also called the eighth; for the week is circumscribed up to the seventh, the seventh being an addition, that is, a day or a unit. The second begins again from a unit. This is called at one time the first of the Sabbath, that is, after the Sabbath, and at another time the eighth, so that the two weeks may be gathered together. In the giving of the holy part to the seven and the eight, the Jew alone has the Sabbath. They have neither the first of the Sabbath nor the eighth, having not at all considered the former week. Therefore, he alone, having the ecclesiastical opinion, who brings forth from his treasure new and old according to another comparison of the Gospel (Matthew 13:52), has the new of the Sabbath. Transcending the first week, he began the second, which is according to the Gospel. And this also is called the eighth in relation to the first week and the first of the Sabbaths.

The first verses of the Psalm can be understood both according to the word and the sense. But the fullness of the earth is to take in its world; for as Moses said: since plants and animals have come upon it, it is said: "it has been completed" (Genesis 2:1)...

The heavens and the earth. And God finished his works on the sixth day (Gen 2:2). We take this literally: that fruits and animals are the fullness of the earth. The apostle instructs, advising those from the Gentiles and the Jews not to be superstitious about foods, saying: 'Whatever is sold in the market, eat, without examining anything (1 Cor 10:25); for the earth and its fullness belong to the Lord (Ps 24:1).' Meat is especially sold in the markets, but also other things contributing to nourishment.

'The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord' (Ps 24:1) means the inhabited world and all who dwell in it. I said earlier that the earth was divided into its part for farming and its part for habitation. That which has the preparation for habitation is called the inhabited world, but that for farming and other things is called earth. God is the maker of both; for how could these be his, if he himself had not made them? Therefore, 'the earth and its fullness belong to the Lord' takes it in a general sense.

He established it upon the seas and prepared it upon rivers—that is, the earth or the inhabited world. The inhabited world is also the earth. What is said here is equal to what is said: 'He who made the earth stand upon the water,' and by Job: 'hanging the earth upon nothing' (Job 26:7); for if it is established in the sea, it does not have a hard and solid foundation, but in the waters it has the hanging. And every water has a ground beneath it. Since the sea has a ground beneath it, it must certainly have something underlying it. But nothing else is found except the liquid. For this reason, he says the earth is established upon the seas.

It holds itself by turning upon itself. It is not a hard ground supporting it as if so arranged, but it turns around itself. Indeed, even the Greeks say in their accounts that straight lines sent from a circle—and straight lines are not perceptible, but are considered by reason—hold it in the very center. And this is the hanging it upon nothing. This is the will of God; for 'you established the earth for its stability, it shall not be moved for ever and ever' (Ps 104:5). For how could the seat received by such a word of God be prone to falling? Since, therefore, the earth is upon the sea...