The Practical and Contemplative Life in Psalm 118
The legal and prophetic writers and even the words of God's new covenant are given naked of types. For, exercising themselves through them and being led according to their spiritual will, we reach the point of meeting face to face with the truth. If the beginning of those bearing them is the truth itself and they become so because of it, and if God's words also bear toward the truth (for they are spoken because of it), it is rightly said that their beginning is the truth. Since also that which exists in some is called a beginning by another meaning, and truth exists in God's words, they are themselves true by that, and because of this they are called their beginning. Similarly, the true state is held to be upon the true words, by which the divinely-breathed scriptures—which are the words of God—are said to be from self-truth. And because of this, it is right to say that the truth is the beginning of God's words.
And what is it? Since the Lord says, 'I am the truth,' the word of God is also that itself; he says to the Father, 'Your word is truth,' who becomes with each prophet. And likewise: those established according to the truth, being truth-receivers, become the beginning of God's words. Just as the truth was the beginning of your words, so all your judgments of justice are found indestructible and shown forever (Ps 118:161c).
Cowardice is twofold: one part is the irrational regarding the emotional part of the soul, the other is the logical established regarding the heart and the intellect, not of reason, and perhaps it can pertain to the same divine fear. Throughout his life, the righteous man, being enlightened, will be in a perfect day not intercepted by night and will praise God sevenfold (Ps 118:164), having become transcendent to be separated from the world that has become in days of exile, even having been in God's paradise, having contemplated the word of God's creation and providence, will confess the judgments of the justice of God, according to the judgments of each varied creation and providence. If he also awaits the Savior, as it is said, 'All flesh shall see the salvation of God' (Ps 118:166), following this he loves the commandments of God.
And he has expected salvation, so that both his practice is pure and his expectation is contemplative, always expecting and contemplating that God has come to seek and to save the lost.
He prays for such a worthy condition to be tested, certain and unshakeable, as if to enter before the Lord. 'And I will know if my worthiness enters before you, if I am rescued by you according to your word and your wisdom' (Ps 118:170). For He, being above all passions, irrational and the evils working from irrationality, having departed from them, is rescued by God according to His word.
'Oh that you would teach me, so that I might act from it and know them clearly; I would bring to you a thankful hymn from my lips, O Lord, of your man' (Ps 118:171). If the impulse of hymnody to God is clearly the beginning of its nourishment, it constitutes full theology.
'Your various commandments are instructions; they all possess the virtues of those who are wise, the general virtue being to follow the particular virtues, as one possessing the one perfectly possesses all' (Ps 118:172). 'I utter your word with my lips toward your man' (Ps 118:173a). But the word concerning righteousness is uttered principally not by voice alone, not by merely bringing it forth, but also by works and by practical intention, being corrected according to the right word.
'Let your hand be done to save me' (Ps 118:174a) does not signify here the generation of it according to essence, but the relation toward the ones being saved. The same thought is carried in 'Become for me a protector toward God'. The path of the one longing for the salvation of God is the one who has the study of the law as his desire, pre-sounding his arrival here. By 'law' he calls here the ancient and divine Scripture.
'Since remembering your judgments and being set apart, I turn away from the death that follows sin' (Ps 118:175). Not merely sinning, but performing those things, which follow the living of the soul and the praising of you thankfully, through which you provide it with immortal life. Since remembering your judgments, I turn away from the death following sin by not sinning; my soul shall live, having worked out those of life and praising the thankful ones, through which you provide it with immortal life.
Greek
καὶ γυμνὴν τύπων ἀναφανῆναι οἱ νομικοὶ καὶ προφητικοὶ καὶ ε τι μὴν καὶ οἱ τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης θεοῦ λόγοι δέδονται· γυμναζόμενοι γὰρ δι' αὐτῶν καὶ χειραγωγούμενοι κατὰ τὸ πνευματικὸν αὐτῶν βούλημα φθάνομεν ἐπὶ τὸ προσβάλλειν πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον τῇ ἀληθείᾳ. εἰ δ' ε στι τὸ ου ε νεκα ἀρχὴ τῶν ἐπ' αὐτὰ φερόντων καὶ αὐτοῦ χάριν γινομένων, φέρουσι δὲ καὶ οἱ θεοῦ λόγοι ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν (αὐτῆς γὰρ χάριν ει ρηνται), εἰκότως ἀρχὴ αὐτῶν ει ρηται. ̓Επειδὴ δὲ καὶ κατ' α λλο σημαινόμενον ἀρχὴ καλεῖται τὸ ἐνυπάρχον τισίν, ἐνυπάρχει δὲ τοῖς θεοῦ λόγοις ἡ ἀλήθεια αὐτόθεν ἀληθέσιν ου σι, καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο ἀρχὴ αὐτῶν αυ τη ει ναι λέγεται. Καταλλήλως ἐπὶ τῶν ἀληθῶν λόγων ἡγεῖται ἡ ἀληθὴς ε ξις, καθ' η ν λέγονται ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτοαληθείας τῆς ἐμπνεομένης εἰπεῖν τὰς θεοπνεύστους γραφάς, αι περ εἰσὶν οἱ θεοῦ λόγοι. καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο ὀρθῶς ε χοι α ν ἀρχὴν τῶν θεοῦ λόγων ει ναι τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Καὶ ε τι· ἐπεὶ ὁ κύριός φησιν ̓Εγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀλήθεια, θεοῦ λόγος καὶ αὐτὸ τυγχάνει, ῃ φησιν αὐτὸς τῷ πατρὶ ̔Ο λόγος ὁ σὸς ἀλήθειά ἐστιν, ὁ γινόμενος πρὸς ε καστον προφήτην. Καὶ α λλως· ὁ θεοληπτούμενος ἀλήθεια ω ν, ἀρχὴ γίνονται λόγων θεοῦ οἱ κατὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν πεποιωμένοι. ὡς ου ν τῶν λόγων σου ἀρχὴ η ν ἀλήθεια, ου τως εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα πάντα τὰ κρίματα τῆς δικαιοσύνης σου τυγχάνει ἀκατάλυτα καὶ εἰς ἀεὶ δεικνύμενα. 1141 Ps 118,161c ∆ιττή ἐστιν ἡ δειλία, ἡ μὲν α λογος περὶ τὸ θυμικὸν μέρος τῆς ψυχῆς καταγινομένη, ἡ δὲ λογικὴ περὶ τὴν καρδίαν συνισταμένη καὶ τὴν νόησιν οὐκ α νευ λόγου, καὶ τάχα ἡ αὐτὴ τῷ θείῳ φόβῳ τυγχάνειν δύναται. 1142 Ps 118,164 Παρ' ο λον τὸν βίον ἑαυτοῦ ὁ δίκαιος φωτιζόμενος ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ε σται τελείᾳ οὐ μεσολαμβανομένῃ ὑπὸ νυκτὸς καὶ αἰνεῖ τὸν θεὸν ἑπτάκις, ὑπερκόσμιος γεγονὼς τῷ α νω κεχωρηκέναι τοῦ ἐν ε ξ ἡμέραις γενομένου κόσμου, ο τε καὶ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγενημένος, τὸν τῆς δημιουργίας καὶ προνοίας θεοῦ λόγον θεωρήσας, ἐξομολογεῖται ἐπὶ τὰ κρίματα τῆς δικαιοσύνης τοῦ θεοῦ, καθ' α κρίματα ε καστον ποικίλην δημιουργίαν καὶ πρόνοιαν ε σχε. 1143 Ps 118,166 Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὸν σωτῆρα προσδοκᾷ, περὶ ου ει ρηται Πᾶσα σὰρξ ο ψεται τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀκολούθως ἀγαπᾷ τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ θεοῦ ου καὶ τὸ σωτήριον προσεδόκησεν, ι να καὶ τὴν πρᾶξιν ῃ καθαρὸς καὶ τὴν προσδοκίαν θεωρητικός, προσδοκῶν ἀεὶ καὶ θεωρῶν ἐληλυθότα τὸν θεὸν λόγον ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλός. 1144 Ps 118,170 Παρακαλεῖ τοιαύτην ει ναι τὴν ἀξίωσιν δόκιμον καὶ βεβαίαν καὶ ἀκατάγνωστον ω στε εἰσελθεῖν ἐνώπιον κυρίου. γνώσομαι δὲ εἰ εἰσέλθοι ἐνώπιόν σου τὸ ἀξίωμά μου, εἰ ῥυσθείην ὑπὸ σοῦ κατὰ τὸν λόγον καὶ τὴν σοφίαν σου· ὁ γὰρ ἀνωτέρω πάντων παθῶν ἀλόγων καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ ἀλογίας ἐνεργουμένων κακῶν χωρήσας ῥέρυσται ὑπὸ θεοῦ κατὰ τὸ λόγιον αὐτοῦ. 1145 Ps 118,171 Η ο ταν διδάξῃς με ἐκ τοῦ ἐνεργεῖσθαι καὶ τρανῶς ἐγγυῶσθαί μοι αὐτά, εὐχάριστον προσγινόμενον υ μνον σοι προσενέγκωμαι ἐκ χειλέων μου τοῦ ε σω ἀνθρώπου. εἰ δὲ ἡ ἐρυγὴ ὑμνῳδία θεοῦ, δηλονότι ἡ ἀρχὴ γινομένη αὐτῆς τροφή, πληρεστάτη θεολογία τυγχάνει. 1146 Ps 118,172 Αἱ διάφοροι ἐντολαί σου προστάξεις ου σαι τῶν κατ' ει δος ἀρετῶν ε ν πᾶσαι τυγχάνουσιν, ἡ καθόλου γενικὴ ἀρετὴ τῷ ἀντακολουθεῖν τὰς ἰδικὰς ἀρετάς, ὡς τὸν μίαν τελείως ε χοντα πάσας ε χειν. 240 Φθέγγομαι τοῖς τοῦ ε σω ἀνθρώπου χείλεσί μου τὸ λόγιόν σου. φθέγγεται δὲ κυρίως τὸ περὶ τῆς δικαιοσύνης λόγιον οὐχ ὁ φωνῇ μόνῃ ου τω προφέρων ἀλλὰ καὶ ε ργοις καὶ προθέσει πρακτικῇ τῇ κατὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον εὐθυνομένῃ. 1147 Ps 118,173a Τὸ Γενέσθω ἡ χείρ σου τοῦ σῶσαί με οὐ τὴν κατ' οὐσίαν γένεσιν αὐτῆς σημαίνει ἐνταῦθα ἀλλὰ τὴν πρὸς τὰ σῳζόμενα σχέσιν. τῆς αὐτῆς διανοίας ε χεται καὶ τὸ Γενοῦ μοι εἰς θεὸν ὑπερασπιστήν. 1148 Ps 118,174 ̔Οδὸς τοῦ ἐπιποθοῦντος τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ τὸν νόμον ει ναι μελέτην τῷ ἐπιποθοῦντι προαναφωνοῦντα τὴν δεῦρο αὐτοῦ α φιξιν. νόμον δ' ἐνταῦθα καλεῖ τὴν παλαιὰν καὶ θείαν γραφήν. 1149 Ps 118,175 † ̓Επείπερ τῶν κριμάτων μνημονεύων καὶ ἐξεχόμενος ἐκκλίνω τὸν ἑπόμενον τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ θάνατον, οὐδ' ο λως ἁμαρτάνων ἀλλ' ἐνεργῶν ἐκεῖνα, οι ς ἀκολουθεῖ τὸ ζήσεσθαι τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ αἰνέσαι σε εὐχαριστοῦσαν, ἐφ' ῃ παρέσχες αὐτῇ ἀθανάτῳ ζωῇ. ̓Επείπερ τῶν κριμάτων σου μνημονεύων ἐκκλίνω τὸν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ παρεπόμενον θάνατον τῷ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν, ζήσεται ἡ ψυχή μου τὰ τῆς ζωῆς ἐνεργήσασα καὶ τοῦς εὐχαριστηρίους αἰνεῖν, ἐφ' ῃ παρέσχες αὐτῇ ἀθανάτῳ ζωῇ. 1150 Ps 118,176 ̔Ως τὸ
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