Fragments on the Psalms · §172

The Depth of Divine Truth and the Darkness of God

Revelation. Ps 90:14–16. Since he has set his love upon me, says the Lord, the one who has fled and hoped in me, the one who has said, 'But You, Lord, are my hope' (Ps 90:14)—I will rescue him from the falling of his perch, a thousand and ten thousand from his right side; but also I will cover him, the one who has known my name, so that he might remain unharmed, mounting upon a shield and a small buckler, and having subdued the lion and the dragon, the knowledge of my name becoming a protection around him. Having cried out with the great voice of the soul toward me, he will find me hearing and answering him. For I am always present for him, even when he encounters distress; for I am with him in tribulation (especially then is it necessary to be with him, when the painful and distressing things are around us). Not only will I free him from the painful things, but I will also work by watching over him. And I will grant to him also eternal life, upon the long-lasting and long-enduring, the eternal light (for light is for the righteous always). And I will show him my salvation, the salvation from me, the Jesus who is the cause of this, just as the blessed Simeon, having seen, rejoiced saying, 'Now You release your servant, Lord, in peace, since my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the presence of all peoples' (Luke 2:29-30). It is not to be thought that the psalm is spoken only concerning the Lord, as the Arian ones and Eusebius desire, but it is also concerning a righteous man and one having trusted in God, to see the best end of hope, Christ Jesus the salvation of God. And if the devil in the words toward the Lord said to him that the promise lies in the text, 'That he will command his angels concerning you' (Ps 91:11), as that man also conversed with the righteous, seeing clearly and excellently the truth in him, lest perhaps he be able to understand what is more than man and more excellent in Christ.

Ps 91:2,3. The one confessing and accusing himself toward the Lord, asking for forgiveness and remission, testing by experience the benefit from confessing, proclaims with his works the mercy of God, having been shown mercy upon those things for which he repented. And he proclaims the mercy of God having become upon him, having been enlightened and having become established at the beginning of the day by the sun of righteousness standing, he proclaims first of all.

If the blessing is that which is from God. And the singing in the name of the Lord the Most High is a premise of theology and theoria; the end has the truth which it is fitting to proclaim, not from the surface or from manifest things, but from deep and hidden things through an excess of knowledge. The obscurity which is named in such things is called night; for by nature the things said concerning the pious and the correct manifest the knowledge of many through the greatness of power. And night is that which is hard to grasp. And this night has a reference to the darkness which God has set as His own hiddenness. The morning proclaims the mercy of God and His truth according to the night (Ps 91:6,7).

And as much as the greatness of them appears to us, so much do I see the reflections concerning their God, which He has made and enlarged. To this is conjoined what is said by the Preacher: 'I said, I will be wise, but wisdom was removed from me; a great and deep depth, who will find it?' (Eccl 1:16). How its depth seems to have appeared incomprehensible to me. But having said 'Your reflections have become very heavy,' he gladdens the lovers of wisdom, saying that a man without understanding and without insight does not know and does not comprehend them, clearly showing that the wise man and the one having the Spirit of God investigates all things and comprehends the depths of God. And 'without understanding and without insight' he says, meaning being deprived of divine prudence and intelligence, though it may seem otherwise to be prudent and intelligent; just as, contrary to the idea in 188, the one having the wisdom of God is most without understanding, not at all, but in relation to the wisdom of men: 'For I am more foolish than all men, and the wisdom of men is not in me; but God has taught me wisdom.' Therefore, let the wise man in this age become a fool, as in relation to mortal wisdom (Ps 91:8–10).

On the day of judgment, of all men being humbled, from which they were exulting in pride over temporary things, the Lord alone is lifted up as King of all, being shown blameless of all and having provided for and arranged all things (Ps 91:10). And it is possible to grasp another thought in the things presented; for the sinners do not rise like the wheat, and iniquity and their hatred toward God are being worked out.

Greek

̓Αποκάλυψιν. 908 Ps 90,14–16 ̓Επεὶ ἐπ' ἐμὲ η λπισεν, ὁ κύριος λέγει, ὁ καταφυγὼν καὶ ἐλπίσας ἐπ' ἐμέ, ὁ εἰπὼν Οτι σύ, κύριε, ἡ ἐλπίς μου, –ῥύσομαι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ πιπτούσης ἐκ τοῦ κλίτους αὐτοῦ χιλιάδος καὶ μυριάδος ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ· ἀλλὰ καὶ σκεπάσω αὐτὸν ἐγνωκότα τὸ ο νομά μου, ο πως ἀβλαβὴς διαμείνῃ ἐπιβὰς ἐπὶ ἀσπίδος καὶ βασιλίσκου καὶ καταστήσας λέοντα καὶ δράκοντα, τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ ὀνόματός μου ἀλεξικάκου ποιότητος περὶ αὐτὸν γινομένης. κεκραγὼς δὲ τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς μεγαλοφωνίᾳ πρὸς ἐμέ, ἐπακούοντά με καὶ ἐπινεύοντα αὐτῷ εὑρήσει. ἀεὶ γὰρ αὐτῷ πάρειμι, κα ν ἐν περιστάσει τυγχάνῃ· μετ' αὐτοῦ γάρ εἰμι ἐν θλίψει (μάλιστα γὰρ τότε συνεῖναι αὐτὸν χρεία, ο ταν θλιβερὰ καὶ περιστατικὰ ῃ περὶ ἡμᾶς). Οὐ μόνον δὲ αὐτὸν ἐλευθερώσω τῶν θλιβερῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπίβλεπτον ἀπεργάσομαι. παρέξω δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον ἐπὶ τῷ πολυήμερον καὶ μακροήμερον ο ντα ε χειν φῶς αἰώνιον (Φῶς γὰρ δικαίοις διαπαντός). δείξω δὲ αὐτῷ τὸ σωτήριόν μου η τοι τὴν παρ' ἐμοῦ σωτηρίαν η τὸν ταύτης αι τιον ̓Ιησοῦν, ο περ καὶ ὁ μακάριος Συμεὼν ἰδὼν ηὐχαρίστει λέγων Νῦν ἀπολύεις τὸν δοῦλόν σου, δέσποτα, ἐν εἰρήνῃ, ο τι ει δον οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου τὸ σωτήριόν σου ο ἡτοίμασας κατὰ πρόσωπον πάντων τῶν λαῶν. Οὐ δὴ νομιστέον περὶ τοῦ κυρίου ο λον εἰρῆσθαι τὸν ψαλμόν, ὡς οἱ ̓Αρειανοὶ βούλονται καὶ Εὐσέβιος, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ ἀνδρὸς δικαίου καὶ θεῷ πεποιθότος ῳ πρόκειται τέλος τῆς ἐλπίδος τὸ α ριστον ἰδεῖν Χριστὸν ̓Ιησοῦν τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ. εἰ δὲ ὁ διάβολος ἐν τοῖς πρὸς κύριον λόγοις ε φησεν αὐτῷ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν κεῖσθαι τὸ Οτι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ ἐντελεῖται περὶ σοῦ, ὡς ἀνδρὶ κἀκεῖνος διελέγετο δικαίῳ, τὸ καθαρῶς καὶ ἐξόχως δίκαιον ὁρῶν ἐν αὐτῷ, μήπω δὲ τὸ πλέον ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἀνώτερον ἐν Χριστῷ συνιέναι δυνάμενος. 909 Ps 91,2.3 ̔Ο ἐξομολογούμενος καὶ κατηγορῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἐπὶ κυρίου α φεσιν καὶ συγχώρησιν αἰτούμενος, τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ἐξομολογεῖσθαι ὠφέλειαν πείρᾳ ε χων, ε ργοις ἀπαγγέλλει τὸ ε λεος τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐλεηθεὶς ἐφ' οι ς μετενόησεν. ἀναγγέλλει δὲ τὸν ἐπ' αὐτὸν γενόμενον ε λεον θεοῦ, φωτισθεὶς καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ ἡμέρας ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης συνισταμένης γεγονώς, ο θεν πρωῒ ἀναγγέλλειν ει πε τὴν εὐεργεσίαν η ν θεόθεν ε σχε. Καὶ τὸ ψάλλειν δὲ τῷ ὀνόματι κυρίου τοῦ ὑψίστου θεολογίας καὶ θεοπτίας ὑπόθεσις τυγχάνον τέλος ε χει τὴν ἀλήθειαν η ν ἀναγγέλλειν προσήκει οὐκ ἐξ ἐπιπολῆς καὶ ἐκ τῶν φανερῶν πραγμάτων ἀλλ' ἐκ βαθέων καὶ ἀποκρύφων διὰ γνώσεως ὑπερβολήν. τὴν δὲ ἀσάφειαν τὴν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις ὠνόμασε νύκτα· φύσει γὰρ τὰ περὶ τοῦ εὐσεβῶς καὶ ὀρθῶς λεγόμενα τῆς τῶν πολλῶν γνώσεως διὰ μέγεθος δυνάμεως ἀποδημεῖ. νὺξ δ' ἐστὶ τὸ δυσκατάληπτον. αυ τη δὲ ἡ νὺξ ἀναφορὰν ε χει πρὸς τὸ σκότος ο ε θετο ὁ θεὸς ἀποκρυφὴν αὐτοῦ. ἀπαγγέλλει τε τὸ πρωῒ τὸ ε λεος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν αὐτοῦ κατὰ νύκτα. 910 Ps 91,6.7 Οσον δὲ τὸ μέγεθος αὐτῶν ἀναφαίνεται ἡμῖν, τοσοῦτον βαθυνομένους ὁρῶμεν τοὺς περὶ αὐτῶν θεοῦ διαλογισμοὺς καθ' ου ς πεποίηκε καὶ ἐμεγέθυνεν αὐτά. τούτοις συνᾴδει τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ ̓Εκκλησιαστοῦ Ει πα Σοφισθήσομαι, καὶ αυ τη ἐμακρύνθη ἀπ' ἐμοῦ μακρὰν ὑπὲρ ο η ν καὶ βαθὺ βάθος, τίς εὑρήσει αὐτήν; ὡς τὸ βάθος αὐτῆς φησιν ἀκατάληπτόν μοι φανῆναι· εἰπὼν δὲ Σφόδρα ἐβαρύνθησαν οἱ διαλογισμοί σου, εὐθυμοποιεῖ τοὺς σοφίας ἐραστάς, φήσας α νδρα α φρονα καὶ ἀσύνετον μὴ γνώσεσθαι καὶ συνιέναι αὐτά, δηλονότι τοῦ σοφοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ ε χοντος τὸ θεοῦ πνεῦμα τὸ ἐρευνοῦν πάντα καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ θεοῦ συνιέντος. α φρονα δὲ καὶ ἀσύνετον λέγει τὸν θείας φρονήσεως καὶ συνέσεως ἐστερημένον, κα ν δοκῇ α λλως φρόνιμος ει ναι καὶ συνετός· ὡς ἐκ τοῦ 188 ἐναντίου ὁ ε χων τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίαν ἀφρονέστατός ἐστιν, οὐ καθάπαξ ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φρόνησιν· ̓Αφρονέστατος γάρ εἰμι πάντων ἀνθρώπων, καὶ φρόνησις ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ε στιν ἐν ἐμοί· ὁ δὲ θεὸς δεδίδαχέ με σοφίαν. ο θεν καὶ ̔Ο σοφὸς ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ μωρὸς γενέσθω, ὡς πρὸς τὴν θνητὴν σοφίαν. 911 Ps 91,8– 10 Τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως, ἀνθρώπων ἁπάντων ταπεινουμένων, ἀφ' η ς ει χον ὑψαυχενίας ἐπὶ τοῖς προσκαίροις, ὑψοῦται κύριος μόνος βασιλεὺς ἁπάντων ἀποδεικνύμενος ἀμέμπτως τε πάντων προνοησάμενος καὶ διαταξάμενος τὰ ο λα. Καὶ ἑτέραν δὲ διάνοιαν ἐν τοῖς προκειμένοις καταλαβεῖν ε στιν· ο τε οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ οι α χόρτος ἀνατέλλουσι καὶ ἐνεργεῖται ἡ ἀνομία καὶ ἡ πρὸς θεὸν ε χθρα αὐτῶν

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Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.

Original English Translation — new OET from PG Greek.

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