Jacob, Israel, and the Tabernacle of the Word
The beginning of his judgments: all those eating him shall be filled with calamity, evil or violence upon them, says the Lord.
Those about to eat the people of God unjustly did not call upon the Lord, thinking to carry out all things by their own power and to tyrannize the people of God. For if they had known that they received him through the judgment of God by sin, they would have feared even more, lest they should fall under the same judgment. Therefore it is said to them, having become more reckless than is proper: 'Though I was angry a little, they themselves pressed on to ving tyrannized the people of God unjustly, they fell into cowardice. Therefore one should not fear a coward; for fear is not present, if having received those delivered by the judgment of God, they approached them humanely and gently. But since they did all things harshly and without mercy, having fallen into cowardice, they laid waste to others. And this has risen up.
'Since God is in the generation of the righteous,' you will say, 'a generation of the righteous,' meaning the harmony of the righteous deeds in which the righteous judge is found, or the concord of righteous men and the commonality toward the same end. For if where two or three gather at his assembly, the Lord is found present, how much more would a whole generation of the righteous be found? And those who fulfill the same mind and life, even if they become a generation in different times, after this it would be said that time has called them to this. One who is cowed by a fear that is not fear; and he who fears man and once simply those killing the body, but not being able to kill the soul. For it is said, 'But do not fear anyone other than God.'
In connection with this passion, the Lord reproves Jerusalem saying: 'Who has not been reverent toward a mortal man?' (Ps 13:7). But as for the captivity of the people, it must first be viewed, so that we may subsequently see its return. He who falls away through his own laziness from the doing of good is taken captive by the law of sin, so as to have the power of death under the tyrantically devouring devil. This one, having been found having surrendered to the enemies outside the fatherland (and this is the partaking of virtue), is called back.
The Lord is submissive to the manner of repentance and to the forgiveness of those who have previously sinned; and this is the redeeming of the captives and the turning back of the captivity. When this has been fulfilled by the Lord's cross, as the people believing from the nations have been redeemed, Jacob rejoices. The same, according to the underlying meaning, is Jacob through thought alone, discerning the difference. For if one, doing good things and working according to virtue, overcomes the passions and evils and the working evil powers as a conqueror of them, he is Jacob rejoicing; but if, after the practical life, having obtained a pure heart, he sees God, he is Israel, a mind seeing God. For he does not receive into the voice of the Greeks a divine joy, being rejoiced; no one is grieved to take from a parallel passage the 'Let him rejoice and let him be glad' to be said.
85 Ps 14,1 See if the one living according to the law, having become the pedagogue unto Christ, dwells as a sojourner in the tabernacle of the Lord, wandering around the tent of the testimony. But the one having hastened unto Christ, having adhered to the evangelical teaching, dwells in the holy spirit of God, not another, but of the Son of God, concerning which it was prophetically said: 'The light of the Lord shall appear.' Stand firm, if it be rightly understood: the holy light of God is the God the Word, and his tabernacle is what the man took up. And it is necessary to know beforehand according to the flesh Christ, if he is the only-begotten according to the Father. He who says, 'Even if we have known according to the flesh Christ, but now we know no longer,' who has seen his glory, the glory as the only-begotten from the Father, dwells in the tabernacle, no longer a sojourner but dwelling in the holy spirit of God. And to him it is said: 'Ascend upon a high light,' he who evangelizes Zion. Therefore, the prophet, seeking an equal, says of the one able to say, 'Our citizenship exists in the heavens' (Phil 3:20), asks of the one to whom the Lord answers: 'Going...'
86 Ps 14,3 The one being erased from the appointed things, being a lover of brothers and a companion, hastens to be wise, spending time with the wise, turning himself away from all the weakness of the foolish, lest he be known as one of them. If therefore he turns away from the bad ones, but has understanding with the good (for the wise are good ones).
Greek
ἀρχὴ γενημάτων αὐτοῦ· πάντες οἱ ἐσθίοντες αὐτὸν πλημμελήσουσιν, κακὰ η ξει ἐπ' 23 αὐτούς, φησὶν κύριος. οἱ προκείμενοι κατεσθίειν τὸν θεοῦ λαὸν α ρτου δίκην τὸν κύριον οὐκ ἐπεκαλέσαντο, τῇ αὐτῶν δυνάμει πάντα ἀνύειν καὶ καταδυναστευκέναι τὸν θεοῦ λαὸν οἰόμενοι. εἰ γὰρ η σαν εἰδότες ὡς δι' ἁμαρτίας κρίσει θεοῦ παρέλαβον αὐτόν, κα ν ἐφοβήθησαν ε τι μᾶλλον ὡς μέτρον ἐπιθέσθαι κατὰ τοῦ παραδοθέντος, ι να μὴ κρίματι τῷ αὐτῷ ὑποπέσωσιν. διὸ λέγεται πρὸς αὐτοὺς πέρα τοῦ προσήκοντος ἐξαγριωθέντας· ̓Ανθ' ω ν ἐγὼ μὲν ὠργίσθην ὀλίγα, αὐτοὶ δὲ συνεπέθεντο εἰς κακά. ου τως καταδυναστεύσαντες τὸν λαὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀδίκως, εἰς δειλίαν ἐνέπεσαν. ε νθα οὐδὲ φοβεῖσθαι ε δει· φόβος γὰρ οὐκ η ν, εἰ παραλαβόντες τοὺς κρίσει θεοῦ παραδοθέντας φιλανθρώπως καὶ ἡμέρως προσενεχθέντες η σαν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ σκληρῶς καὶ ἀνελεημόνως πάντα ἐποίησαν, ἐδειλίασαν περιπεσόντες οι ς α λλους διέθηκαν. ὑπῆρκται δὲ τοῦτο. ̓Επεὶ ἐν γενεᾷ δικαίων ὁ θεός, γενεὰν δικαίων ἐρεῖς η τοι τὴν τῶν δικαίων πραγμάτων συμφωνίαν ἐν ῃ ὁ δίκαιος κριτὴς εὑρίσκεται, η τὴν τῶν δικαίων ἀνδρῶν ὁμοφροσύνην καὶ τὴν εἰς ταὐτὸν σύνοδον. Εἰ γὰρ ε νθα δύο καὶ τρεῖς συνέρχονται ἐπὶ τῇ αὐτοῦ προσηγορίᾳ, παρὼν εὑρίσκεται ὁ κύριος, ποσῷ μᾶλλον εὑρεθείη α ν ε νθα ο λῃ δικαίων γενεᾷ; ο τι δὲ οἱ τῆς αὐτῆς γνώμης καὶ βίου τοῦ αὐτοῦ μίαν συμπληροῦσι γενεὰν κα ν ἐν διαφόροις χρόνοις γένωνται, μετὰ ταῦτα ῥηθείη ο ταν εἰς τοῦτο καλέσῃ καιρός. ∆ειλιᾷ τις φόβῳ ῳ οὐκ η ν φόβος· καὶ ̔Ο φοβούμενος α νθρωπον καὶ α παξ ἁπλῶς τοὺς ἀποκτένοντας τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυνάμενος ἀποκτεῖναι. ει ρηται γὰρ Πλὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μὴ φοβοῦ α λλον. τούτῳ τῷ πάθει συσχεθεῖσαν τὴν ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ ὁ κύριος ἐλέγχει λέγων· Τίς ου σα εὐλαβήθης ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου θνητοῦ; 84 Ps 13,7 Τίς δὲ η ν ἡ αἰχμαλωσία τοῦ λαοῦ πρῶτον θεωρητέον, ι να καὶ τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν αὐτοῦ ἑπομένως ι δωμεν. ὁ ἐκπίπτων παρ' ἰδίαν ῥαθυμίαν τῆς τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ποιήσεως αἰχμαλωτίζεται ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ὡς γενέσθαι ὑπὸ τὸν καταδυναστεύοντα τυραννικῶς διάβολον ε χοντα τὸ κράτος τοῦ θανάτου· τοῦτον ου τω ἑλόντα τοῖς πολεμίοις ε ξω τῆς πατρίδος (αυ τη δ' ἐστὶν ἡ τῆς ἀρετῆς μετουσία) γεγενημένον ἀνακαλεῖται μετανοίας τρόπῳ ὁ κύριος, α μα καὶ α φεσιν τῶν προημαρτημένων ὑπισχούμενος· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ λυτρωθῆναι τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους καὶ ἐπιστραφῆναι τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν. πληρωθέντος δὲ τούτου τῷ κυριακῷ σταυρῷ ὡς πάντα τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν πιστεύοντα λαὸν λελυτρῶσθαι, ἀγαλλιᾷ ̓Ιακώβ. ὁ αὐτὸς κατὰ τὸ ὑποκείμενόν ἐστιν†, ἐπινοίᾳ μόνῃ ε χων τὴν διαφοράν. εἰ μὲν γὰρ πράττων τὰ καλὰ καὶ ἐνεργῶν τὰ κατὰ ἀρετὴν πτερνίζει τὰ πάθη καὶ κακίας καὶ τὰς ἐνεργούσας πονηρὰς δυνάμεις ὡς νικητὴς αὐτῶν ἀναφανῆναι, ̓Ιακώβ ἐστιν ἀγαλλιώμενος· εἰ δὲ μετὰ τὸν πρακτικὸν βίον καρδίαν καθαρὰν κεκτημένος ὁρᾷ τὸν θεόν, ̓Ισραήλ ἐστιν, νοῦς ὁρῶν θεόν. ου τω γὰρ μεταλαμβάνεται εἰς ̔Ελλήνων φωνὴν εὐφραινόμενος θείαν εὐφροσύνην· οὐδεὶς λυπεῖ λαβεῖν ἐκ παραλλήλου τὸ ̓Αγαλλιάσθω καὶ Εὐφραινέσθω εἰρῆσθαι. 85 Ps 14,1 Ορα εἰ ὁ κατὰ νόμον πολιτευόμενος τὸν γενόμενον παιδαγωγὸν εἰς Χριστὸν παροικεῖ ἐν τῷ σκηνώματι τοῦ κυρίου, τευτάζων περὶ τὴν σκήνην τοῦ μαρτυρίου. ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν Χριστὸν φθάσας προσηκάμενος τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν διδασκαλίαν κατασκηνοῖ ἐν ο ρει ἁγίῳ τοῦ θεοῦ, οὐχ ἑτέρῳ ο ντι τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, περὶ ου προφητικῶς ἐλέχθη ̓Εμφανὲς ε σται τὸ ο ρος τοῦ κυρίου. ἐπίστησον εἰ ὀρθῶς νοηθείη, ο ρος μὲν α γιον τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ θεὸς λόγος ει ναι, σκήνωμα δὲ αὐτοῦ ο ν ἀνέλαβεν α νθρωπον· καὶ ἐπιγνῶναι δεῖ πρότερον κατὰ σάρκα Χριστόν, ει τα κατὰ τὸ ἐκ πατρὸς μονογενὴς ει ναι. παροικεῖ ἐν τῷ σκηνώματι ὁ λέγων Εἰ καὶ ἐγνώκαμεν κατὰ σάρκα Χριστόν, ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐκέτι γινώσκομεν, τοῦ θεασαμένου τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός, οὐκέτι παροικοῦντος ἀλλὰ κατοικοῦντος ἐν τῷ ο ρει τῷ ἁγίῳ τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ει ρηται· ̓Επ' ο ρος ὑψηλὸν ἀνάβηθι ὁ 24 εὐαγγελιζόμενος Σιών. ἰσάγγελον τοίνυν α νδρα ζητῶν ὁ προφήτης, τὸν δυνάμενον λέγειν ̔Ημῶν δὲ τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει, ἠρώτα πρὸς ο ν ἀποκρίνεται ὁ δεσπότης· Πορευόμενος κτλ. 86 Ps 14,3 ̔Ο διαγραφόμενος ἐκ τῶν προκειμένων φιλάλληλος καὶ φιλέταιρος ὑπάρχων σπεύδει σοφὸς ει ναι, σοφοῖς συνδιατρίβων, παντὶ σθένει τῶν ἀφρόνων ἀπάγων ἑαυτόν, ο πως μὴ γνωσθῇ ει ς ω ν αὐτῶν. εἰ τοίνυν ἐκτρέπεται τοὺς φαύλους, σύνεστι δὲ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς (ἀγαθοὶ γὰρ οἱ σοφοὶ οι ς
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Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.
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