Psalm 77 (incomplete, only vv. 1-25)^[63]

1.^[225] For understanding. By Asaph. Attend, O my people, to my law; incline your ear to the sayings of my mouth.

For we need to hunt for the meaning of the [psalm], so as to know who is the word, who is his people, and what is the law, which is different from that which is by Moses. For David was not a lawgiver, so that he might say: “Attend to my law,” nor would it suit him to say, “the sayings of my mouth.” For they did not belong [to him], but he bore forth the sayings by the Spirit. The one, therefore, who speaks is the Savior, and the law is his gospel, and [his] people are Christians. Perhaps if Matthew did not say that the psalm is [spoken] from the person of the Savior ^[226], I would not have dared to refer the things written to the Savior because [the psalm says], “we have heard such things,” etc. Therefore I maintain both that the Savior is the one who is speaking, and that the Savior does not speak through the whole psalm.

Such things are to clarify the person who is speaking, but let us give our attention to the letter.

“Attend,” etc. While there is a law according to Moses, the Spirit vows in the prophet in the 9th Psalm that he would raise up a lawgiver for the nations ^[227], and, according to Jeremiah, [that] he will ratify a new covenant, and he says elsewhere, “I will give them a different heart so as to fear me, and a different way” ^[228]. The Savior came, therefore, and ^[111] says to Christians, to his people from the nations, “Attend, O my people, to my law,” to the evangelical [law], concerning which it has been said, “Out of Zion a law will come forth” ^[229], but not the [law that is] of Moses. You no longer observe the Sabbath, nor do you practice the Feast of Unleavened Bread, nor will you walk according to the former things that are [now] old. “Behold, all things have become new, and the former things are passed away” ^[230]. That the people of Christ are the “nations,” Zechariah indicates, “Many nations will take refuge in the Lord, and they will be for him a people” ^[231].

2.^[232] “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter obscure things from the beginning.”

In the Gospel as well, the Lord first begins from the law, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” ^[233], then he speaks in parables. We also must first carefully inquire into the law, and after the setting straight of habits, come then to theology, indeed “the sayings of the mouth.” But Christ is not present sensibly when he speaks [his] saying, such that we must incline this [sensible] ear and so fulfill the commandment, but it is to the other ear that is in us [that he speaks], about which the Savior says, “The one who has ears to hear, let him hear” ^[234].

A parable is a word as concerning something that happens, which did not literally happen, but could happen, which is a figurative signification of the things spoken in the parable from transference. Or, it is a word which, on the one hand, moves from something that is not proper to something that is proper, and on the other hand guides the one who understands to what is true and proper. Or, it is a text which, through different things, presents things that are indicated properly with operation.

3-8.^[235] “Such things we have heard and we have known them, and our fathers recounted to us. It was not hidden from their children for another generation, announcing the praises of the Lord and his powerful acts and his ^[112] marvels which he performed. He also raised up a witness in Jacob, and he appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded to our fathers, to make it known to their sons. In such a way, another generation might know, the sons who will be born, and they will rise up, and will announce these things to their sons, in order that they might set their hope on God, and might not forget the works of God, and seek after his commandments. In order that they might not be as their fathers, a perverse and rebellious generation; a generation which was not set straight in its heart, and whose spirit did not remain steadfast with God.”

Next [the text reads], “our fathers recounted to us, announcing the praises of the Lord.” The first things, therefore, in the singular were spoken from the person of Christ, and the passage at hand is to be read in the [person of Christ] as well, but he also takes on in addition different persons, descending a little from his divinity, and discoursing in a human fashion. Those who are taken on in addition are his disciples who were kinsmen according to the flesh. Wherefore it relates the things at hand in the plural. For when he set forth his own law to them, he brought forth the promise with kingdom authority from a single person. But now when he abridges the retelling of the Old [Testament] passages, he includes himself in the word, “and we have heard,” [and] he says, on account of the assumption [of this persona], “and we have known,” instead of [saying] “we have been confirmed” concerning them, and “we have been fully assured” of those things the fathers recounted to us, [that is,] I think, from Moses and the prophets. For Christ is a son of these [fathers] through [his] mother.

But perhaps the disciples also answer and say, “Such things we have heard,” etc. It is not for everyone to hear and to know, except only for those understanding the words. But natural fathers do not recount to all, but [only] to certain ones, so also those [who are fathers] according to knowledge and by position. We, then, who have come to the divine Logos from the nations, do not use the title fathers according to the flesh as “teachers” of disciplines. But if you will, those having the mind of Christ perceive these things spiritually, for it was not hidden from their fathers according to knowledge who recounted to them. And these same ones revealed “the obscure things from the beginning” to their own children which were begotten by them through instruction, such that these things might remain known and not be hidden for the generation which followed them. Having heard such things, therefore, it says, we have been instructed by fathers, we have known all these things through the works and presence of the Christ himself, and not for another generation, but for their children the mighty works of the Savior have been accomplished. Wherefore they do not cease proclaiming the praises of the Lord to them, and his powerful acts, that is, his marvelous and praiseworthy works which manifest [his] divine power.

But according to the [literal] sense: Earlier, it says, the eyewitnesses of the marvels from the beginning taught these things attentively to their own children—such persons transmitted to [their] descendants, not hiding what they learned, for the next generation after them, and following [generations]. They were doing this, obeying the divine law, which says: “You will teach these things to your sons and to your grandchildren” ^[236]. Wherefore it proposes: “It was not hidden from their children for another generation, announcing the praises of the Lord and his powerful acts and his marvels which he performed. He also raised up a witness in Jacob, and he appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded to our fathers, to make it known to their sons. In such a way, another generation might know, the sons will be born, and they will rise up, and will announce these things to their sons.”

He solemnly bore witness, it says, and composed a law for the first people which was commanded to them to make it known to [their] descendants, such that not even one generation might neglect it. The accomplishments of the law, and this purpose was in order that those who learned the things that had happened might acquire a steadfast hope in him, and they might follow the laws established by him. ^[114] And “in order that they might not be as [their] fathers;” for they were ignoring continually, and their heart was not walking towards him. For this verse [says] that “her spirit did not remain steadfast with God” ^[237]. “Spirit” he now calls free choice, the disposition of will. And he calls [it] “perverse,” not that it is bad by nature, but that it willingly did not direct its own heart aright, nor did it maintain correct faith towards the divine promises, but hesitated, and provoked [God] through its murmuring in difficulties. On the one hand, David commends these things to his contemporaries. But you should also give attention in the same way. “Witness” ^[238] means [the tent] of witness, in which also are tablets, which tutors them to know through the law the season of the Savior’s appearance for the generation, so that “the sons who will be born”—that is, the blessed disciples—by the marvels which Christ successfully brought to fruition will announce to those who come forth in faith, and will recount these things to them, through which they will be enabled to be inscribed by hope in God alone, not imitating the misfortune of [their] fathers. For the first people did not keep the covenant with God, the censures from which we might learn, in order that we might not become as that people, but might be the people who will be born, who believes from the nations, who is buried together with Christ through baptism, and is raised together with him. Wherefore it has said, “Sons who will be born will rise up” ^[239].

10-12.^[240] “They did not keep the covenant of God, and in his law they did not desire to walk. They neglected his good works and his marvels, of which he showed to them, the marvels which he performed before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Tanis.”

Despite [his] many benefactions, they cast them all away from memory, and the proof of this is when He was delivered over to Pilate. While experiencing the benefits from the Creator, the heretics forget, and do not observe the marvels in ^[115] creation. Those who deny the Old Testament did not keep the covenant of God, but they are also cutting the deity in two because they did not desire to walk in the spiritual law of the Creator. — “Tanis” is called “commandment from judgment,” or “lowly commandment.” The marvels took place around Tanis.

13.^[241] He made water stand as it were a wineskin. Instead of [saying] “in a wineskin.”

14.^[242] And He guided them in a cloud by day, and the whole night in a light of fire. And he provided by day a cloud that shadowed and warded off the vexation of the [sun’s] ray, and by night he provided the use of something that gives light.

16.^[243] And he brought water out from a rock. And the rock, he says, who [is it] other than Christ?

17.^[244] Yet they continued still to sin against him. It does not say [against] themselves, for they sinned against God himself through [their] disputing against him.

18.^[245] And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking for foods for their souls.

Observe the economy of God: seeing a desirous people, and desiring to cleanse it from desire, he saw that it would not be cleansed by a word of teaching, but by satiating the desire itself that existed. For satiety of all things is, not only of sleep, but also of food, wherefore he sent to them quail for three days. When they made use with greediness, they were destroyed with a condition of cholera. I find two occasions when the people ate quail, once when they immediately came out from Egypt, and second, as it is recorded in Numbers, when it mentions for ill the bread of God, and he named it “hollow” ^[246], when wrath came upon them, perhaps as below as it was before they sinned. ^[116]

19-25.^[247] And they spoke against God, and said: Is God not able to prepare a table in the wilderness? Since he split the rock, and waters flowed out, and torrents ran away, will he not all be able to give bread? Or to prepare a table for his people? Because of this the Lord heard, and was agitated, and a fire was kindled in Jacob, and wrath arose against Israel, when they did not act faithfully with God, nor hoped in his salvation. Yet he commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven. And he rained down manna for them to eat, and he gave them bread of heaven. A human ate bread of angels; he sent them a store of provisions in abundance.

Indeed it would do no harm to contemplate these narratives anagogically. God, then, also saves us continually from the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace ^[248] that pertains to sin, in order that you might be led into the holy promise through many exercises, through many wonders, through heavenly bread, through water from the rock (the rock is Christ). To me, therefore, it is a great thing if, after understanding the sea of life and the waves that are in life, and the bitter and salty surf of the matters of life ^[117], I might be able, being shown kindness by God, to see those intelligible Egyptians and the intelligible Pharaoh who were drowned. And would that I myself, while being in the light of day, might be covered by a buoyant cloud and by a brilliant fire, if at some time darkness and obscurity might overtake me, and the world is darkened, and is filled with all things of ignorance.

If, in the wilderness of life, when a great folly prevails over matters, may he who divides his most solid word—which is termed a rock—indeed give me to drink ungrudgingly unto satiety, as though comparing the flow of water to the abyss, and the rivers from the spiritual womb. But I myself provoke the Most High in a waterless state, if I sin again after the teaching, forgetting the words which nourished me and the water which is from the rock—which is Christ. Christ is compared to a rock because he is unbroken and unmoved, for the divine and supreme nature is firmly planted in good things particularly. It was He, as though in the person of Moses, whom the synagogue spoke against, bringing accusation to Pilate, They cried out again, Away, crucify! ^[249]. Then they grieved [him] with two blows, as Moses twice struck the rock. For they killed the leader of life, then they wanted to mislead [others] that he remained among the dead. But the stone produced a bountiful flowing stream, and it watered the whole synagogue. For Christ flooded the inhabited world with holy and divine flowing streams. He who gushed forth the divine stream to those who thirst, and poured forth the water from the rib, with iron opening up this vein, and the bitterness of Marra, of the punitive law, he transferred to sweetness by the reception of the tree of the cross and of the mystery concerning it. For the letter and the law kills, but the spirit and the evangelical worship in the spirit gives life.

In ancient times God gave [bread] to his people without toil which is sufficient for each pleasure ^[250]; for to whomever desires it, it is distributed. ^[118] Such is the nature of the Logos who nourishes the soul, changing to adapt to the ability of the person being nourished. If the Logos nourishes an infant, he becomes milk; if a weakened soul, vegetables; if a perfect person, solid food. Manna does not come to us when sitting, but when we go outside the camp—I mean, “the body”—in which the soul is restrained. For it is necessary for the soul to no longer be in the flesh, but in the spirit. No one who bears the image of the earthy ^[251] is able to eat the “bread of heaven,” for the natural man does not accept the things of the spirit ^[252]. Indeed, you have been taught to pray for this food ^[253]. If you understand the supersubstantial bread, which does not give out,^[66] which is not counterfeit, which is given over to the essence of the soul, [you will realize that] whenever I comprehend [something] concerning God, concerning his divinity, concerning his indwelling in a human body and soul, I am eating the bread of angels, the manna, which after you find and greatly marvel at it you would say, What? What is this? ^[254]. And this utterance would become the name for the bread. Pray that God might send to us a store of provisions unto fulness, not only so that we might taste, but also be filled with the words of life, and to be made strong by them. Such, then, is the aforementioned food.

But at the time when the Hebrews ate the manna, they said, “There is nothing else for our eyes than manna” ^[255], for we remember “when we sat by the pots of meat in Egypt” ^[256]. And while we denounce them, because they sinned then, we do not see that these same sins also occur in us. For instead of spiritual food we desire to eat foul-smelling leeks, and onions that impair the eyes of the soul, and garlic which fill [our] sins with foul smell, and to fill ourselves up with the pleasures of foul smell ^[257]. And so, craving the loose^[67] nature of the world and of somatic things, we desire melons, and rejecting what is given for the essence of the soul, ^[119] we wish to partake of cucumbers. And since we do not want the bread which is from heaven, of which the prophets are heralds and ministers—who are named “clouds” because their mind is carried on high, and because they sprinkle others with noetic dews in a rank of clouds—God dispatches meat to us as it were dust ^[258], until it has filled us with sicknesses and weakness, us who are seeking after the foul-smelling and tear-producing sin. For those who enjoy worldly things vitiate the soul because of them, and they are in cholera and weakness and in every manner of vice because of their doublemindedness (τὴν διψυχίαν).

But for us, let us undertake an acceptable fasting, not nourishing the mind of the flesh, nor let us be in a state of waterless deprivation with regard to spiritual waters, because no one tries those things which sweeten the beneficence of the Most High; (and the things which are performed and contemplated according to virtue and wisdom sweeten it), nor [let us] tempt him in our hearts, that is to say, not from a surface level, but from the depth of the governing part [of the soul], by doubting [his] divine power. Nor should we ask for food for our souls—I am not referring to those [souls] according to the image which are nourished from the bread of life, but to those [souls] that are changed over into flesh because they are craving after^[68] material things, which are not yearning after beneficial and healthy nourishments, but for dainties and things that cause sickness. But rather let a table be prepared for us, on which wisdom will set her own sacrifices, and her own wine mixed in a bowl ^[259]. May wrath never come upon us, the deceiving spirit who exercises authority, which in the manner of a forerunner or inspector from the darkness, in which it disguises itself, comes to the soul through anxiety. Nor may fire as it were be kindled from the fiery arrows of the enemy ^[260], but rather may the doors of heaven be opened to us, the explanations^[69] of noetic and spiritual realities. Or “doors of heaven” are the virtues, just as the [doors] of hades and death are the vices, which according to Peter will not ^[120] prevail over those who are ascending to the doors of the daughter of Zion ^[261]. The man also in the hidden place of the heart, who is according to God’s image, may he come to share a dwelling with angels, partaking of the true manna, and eating the food of heaven, but not from the accursed earth, which the sinner eats with grief. Let those who hear these things take wing, let them mount up, and let them no longer stay in the flesh, but come to be in the spirit, for those who are in the flesh are not able to please God ^[262]. But one must go to the history.

A table in the wilderness. The soul of Matthew the tax collector which was formerly a wilderness our Savior made into a table which nourishes the souls of men through the Gospel. The soul of Saul the persecutor was also a wilderness, which Christ our God made into a table which nourishes.^[70]