31. In this great Psalm there cometh next in order that which, with the Lord’s help, we must consider and treat of. “Set a law for me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes, and I shall seek it alway” (ver. 33).…
32. Why doth this man still pray for a law to be laid down for him; which, if it had not been laid down for him, he could not have run the way of God’s commandments in the breadth of his heart? But since one speaketh who is growing in grace, and who knoweth that it is God’s gift that he profiteth in grace; what else doth he pray, when he prayeth that a law may be laid down for him, save that he may profit more and more? As, if thou holdest a full cup, and givest it to a thirsty man; he both exhausts it by drinking it, and prayeth for it by still longing for it.…
33. But what meaneth, “Evermore”?…Doth “evermore” mean as long as we live here, because we progress in grace so long; but after this life, he who was in a good course of improvement here, is made perfect there? Here the law of God is examined into, as long as we progress in it, both by knowing it and by loving it: but there its fulness abideth for our enjoyment, not for our examination. Thus also is this spoken, “Seek His face evermore.” Where, evermore, save here? For we shall not there also seek the face of God, when “we shall see face to face.” Or if that which is loved without a change of affection is rightly said to be sought after, and our only object is, that it be not lost, we shall indeed evermore seek the law of God, that is, the truth of God: for in this very Psalm it is said, “And Thy law is the truth.” It is now sought, that it may be held fast; it will then be held fast that it may not be lost.…
34. “Give me understanding, and I shall search Thy law, yea, I shall keep it with my whole heart” (ver. 34). For when each man hath searched the law, and searched its deep things, in which its whole meaning doth consist; he ought indeed to love God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind; and his neighbour as himself. “For on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” This he seemeth to have promised, when he said, “Yea, I shall keep it with my whole heart.”
35. But since he hath no power to do even this, save he be aided by Him who commandeth him to do what He commandeth, “Make me,” he addeth, “to go in the path of Thy commandments, for therein is my desire” (ver. 35). My desire is powerless, unless Thou Thyself makest me to go where I desire. And this is surely the very path, that is, the path of God’s commandments, which he had already said that he had run, when his heart was enlarged by the Lord. And this he calleth a “path,” because “the way is narrow which leadeth unto life;” and since it is narrow, we cannot run therein save with a heart enlarged.…
36. He next saith, “Incline mine heart unto Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness” (ver. 36). This then he prayeth, that he may profit in the will itself.…But the Apostle saith, “Avarice is a root of all evils.” But in the Greek, whence these words have been rendered into our tongue, the word used by the Apostle is not πλεονεξία, which occurs in this passage of the Psalms; but φιλαργυρία, by which is signified “love of money.” But the Apostle must be understood to have meant genus by species when he used this word, that is, to have meant avarice universally and generally by love of money, which is truly the root of all evils.…If therefore our heart be not inclined to covetousness, we fear God only for God’s sake, so that He is the only reward of our serving Him. Let us love Him in Himself, let us love Him in ourselves, Him in our neighbours whom we love as ourselves, whether they have Him, or in order that they may have Him.…
37. The next words in the Psalm which we have undertaken to expound are, “O turn away mine eyes, lest they behold vanity: and quicken Thou me in Thy way” (ver. 37). Vanity and truth are directly contrary to one another. The desires of this world are vanity: but Christ, who freeth us from the world, is truth. He is the way, too, wherein this man wisheth to be quickened, for He is also the life: “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” are His own words.
38. …He prayeth that those eyes wherewith we consider on what account we do what we do, may be turned away that they behold not vanity; that is, that he may not look to vanity, as his motive, when he doeth anything good. In this vanity the first place is held by the love of men’s praise, on account of which many great deeds have been wrought by those who are styled great in this world, and who have been much praised in heathen states, seeking glory not with God, but among men, and on account of this living in appearance prudently, courageously, temperately, and righteously; and when they have reached this they have reached their reward: vain men, and vain reward.…Moreover, if it be a vain thing to do good works for the sake of men’s praises, how much more vain for the sake of getting money, or increasing it, or retaining it, and any other temporal advantage, which cometh unto us from without? Since “all things are vanity: what is man’s abundance, with all his toil, wherein he laboureth under the sun?” For our temporal welfare itself finally we ought not to do our good works, but rather for the sake of that everlasting welfare which we hope for, where we may enjoy an unchangeable good, which we shall have from God, nay, what God Himself is unto us. For if God’s Saints were to do good works for the sake of this temporal welfare, never would the martyrs of Christ achieve a good work of confession in the loss of this same welfare.…
39. “O stablish Thy word in Thy servant, that I may fear Thee” (ver. 38). And what else is this than, Grant unto me that I may do according to what Thou sayest? For the word of God is not stablished in those who remove it in themselves by acting contrary to it; but it is stablished in those in whom it is immoveable. God therefore stablisheth His word, that they may fear Him, in those unto whom He giveth the spirit of the fear of Him; not that fear of which the Apostle saith, “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;” for “perfect love casteth out” this “fear,” but that fear which the Prophet calleth “the spirit of the fear of the Lord;” that fear which “is pure, and endureth for ever;” that fear which feareth to offend Him whom it loveth.
40. “Take away my reproach which I have suspected, for Thy judgments are sweet” (ver. 39). Who is he who suspected his own reproach, and who doth not know his own reproach better than that of his neighbour? For a man may rather suspect another’s than his own; since he knoweth not that which he suspecteth; but in each one’s own reproach there is not suspicion for him, but knowledge, wherein conscience speaketh. What then mean the words, “the rebuke which I have suspected”? The meaning of them must be derived from the former verse; since as long as a man doth not turn away his eyes lest they behold vanity, he suspecteth in others what is going on in himself; so that he believeth another to worship God, or do good works, from the same motive as himself. For men can see what we do, but with a view to what end we act, is hidden.…
41. “Behold, I have coveted Thy commandments: O quicken Thou me in Thy righteousness” (ver. 40). Behold, I have coveted to love Thee with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my mind, and my neighbour as myself, but, “O quicken Thou me” not in my own, but “in Thy righteousness,” that is, fill me with that love which I have longed for. Aid me that I may do that which Thou chargest me: Thyself give what Thou dost command. “O quicken Thou me in Thy righteousness:” for in myself I had that which would cause my death: but I find not save in Thee whence I may live. Christ is Thy righteousness, “Who of God is made unto us wisdom,” etc. And in Him I find Thy commandments, which I have coveted, that in Thy righteousness, that is, in Him, Thou mayest quicken me. For the Word Himself is God; and “the Word was made flesh,” that He Himself also might be my neighbour.
Vav
42. “And let Thy loving mercy come also unto us, O Lord” (ver. 41). This sentence seems annexed to the foregoing: for he doth not say, Let it come unto me, but, “And let it come unto me.”…What then doth he here pray for, save that through His loving mercy who commanded, he may perform the commandments which he hath coveted? For he explaineth in some degree what he meant by adding, “even Thy salvation, according to Thy word:” that is, according to Thy promise. Whence the Apostle desireth us to be understood as the children of promise: that we may not imagine that what we are is our own work, but refer the whole to the grace of God.…Christ Himself is the Salvation of God, so that the whole body of Christ may say, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”
43. “And so shall I make answer,” he saith, “to them that reproach me with the word” (ver. 42). It is doubtful whether it be “reproach me with a word;” or, “I will answer with a word;” but either signifieth Christ. They to whom Christ crucified is a stumbling-block or foolishness, reproach us with Him; ignorant that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us;” the Word which “was in the beginning,” and “was with God, and was God.” But although they may not reproach us with the Word which is unknown unto them, because His Divinity is not known unto those by whom His weakness on the Cross is despised; let us nevertheless make answer of the Word, and let us not be terrified or confounded by their reproaches. For “if they had known” the Word, “they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.”…Therefore, when the Psalmist had said, “I will make answer unto them that reproach me with the word:” he at once addeth, “For my trust is in Thy words,” which meaneth exactly, in Thy promises.
44. “O take not the word of Thy truth away out of my mouth even exceedingly” (ver. 43). He saith, out of my mouth, because the unity of the body is speaking, among whose members those also are counted who failed at the hour by denying, but by penitence afterwards came again to life, or even, by renewing their confession, received the palm of martyrdom, which they had lost. The word of truth, therefore, was not “even exceedingly,” or, as some copies have it, even every way, that is not altogether taken from the mouth of Peter, in whom was the type of the Church; because although he denied for the hour, being disturbed with fear, yet by weeping he was restored, and by confessing was afterwards crowned. The whole body of Christ therefore speaketh.…Next followeth, “for I have hoped in Thy judgments.” Or, as some have more strictly rendered it from the Greek, “I have hoped more;” a word which, although compounded in a somewhat unusual way, yet answers the necessary purpose of conveying the truth in a translation.…Behold the saints and the humble in heart when they have trusted in Thee, have not failed in persecutions: behold also those who from trusting in themselves have failed, and nevertheless have belonged to the Very Body, have wept when they became known unto themselves, and have found Thy grace a more solid support, because they have lost their own pride.
45. “So shall I alway keep Thy law” (ver. 44): that is, if Thou wilt not take the word of Thy truth out of my mouth. “Yea, unto age, and age of age:” he showeth what he meant by “alway.” For sometimes by “alway” is meant, as long as we live here; but this is not, “unto age, and age of age.” For it is better thus translated than as some copies have, “to eternity, and to age of age,” since they could not say, and to eternity of eternity. That law therefore should be understood, of which the Apostle saith, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” For this will be kept by the saints, from whose mouth the word of truth is not taken, that is, by the Church of Christ Herself, not only during this world, that is, until this world is ended; but for another also which is styled, “world without end.”…
46. “And I walked at liberty: for I sought Thy precepts” (ver. 45).…“And I walked at liberty.” Here the copulative conjunction, “and,” is not used as a connecting particle; for he doth not say, and I will walk, as he had said, “and I will keep Thy commandments for ever and ever:” or if this latter verse be in the optative mood, and may I keep Thy law; he doth not add, And may I walk at liberty, as if he had desired and prayed for both of these things; but he saith, “And I walked at liberty.” If this conjunction were not used here, and if the sentence were introduced free from any such connection with what preceded, “I walked at liberty,” the reader would never be induced by anything unusual in the mode of speech to think he should seek for some hidden sense. Doubtless, then, he wished what he hath not said to be understood, that is, that his prayers had been heard; and he then added what he had become: as if he were to say, When I prayed for these things, Thou heardest me, “And I walked at liberty;” and so with the remaining expressions which he hath added to the same purpose.
47. …Whence after he had said, “And I walked at liberty,” he subjoined the reason, “For I sought out Thy commandments.” Some copies have not “commandments” but “testimonies:” but we find “commandments” in most, and especially in the Greek; and who would hesitate rather to believe this tongue, as prior to our own, and that from which these Psalms have been rendered into Latin? If then we wish to know how he sought out these commandments, or how they ought to be sought out, let us consider what our good Master, who both taught and gave them, saith: “Ask, and it shall be given you.” And a little lower, “If ye then,” He saith, “being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask Him.” Where He evidently showeth, that the words He had spoken, seek, ask, knock, belong only to earnestness in asking, that is, in praying. Moreover, another Evangelist saith not, He will give good things to them that ask Him; which may be understood in many ways, either as earthly or spiritual blessings; but has excluded other interpretations, and very carefully expressed what our Lord wished us to pray earnestly and instantly for, in these words: “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.”…
48. “I spoke of Thy testimonies also,” he saith, “before kings, and I was not ashamed” (ver. 46): as one who had sought and had received grace to answer those who reproached him with the word, and the promise that the word of truth should not be taken from his mouth. Struggling for this truth even unto death, not even before kings was he ashamed to speak of it. For testimonies, whereof he doth avow that he was speaking, are in Greek styled μαρτύρια, a word which we now employ instead of the Latin. The name of “Martyrs,” unto whom Jesus foretold, that they should confess Him even before kings, is derived hence.
49. “And I meditated,” he saith, “on Thy commandments, which I have loved” (ver. 47). “My hands also have I lifted up unto Thy commandments, which I have loved” (ver. 48); or, as some copies read, “which I have loved exceedingly,” or “too much,” or “vehemently,” as they have chosen to render the Greek word σφόδρα. He then loved the commandments of God because he walked at liberty; that is, through the Holy Spirit, through whom love itself is shed abroad, and enlargeth the hearts of the faithful. But he loved, both in thought and in acts. With a view to thought, he saith, “And I meditated:” as to action, “My hands also have I lifted up.” But to both sentences, he hath annexed the words, “which I have loved:” for “the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart.”…The following words, “And my study was in Thy statutes,” relate to both. This expression most of the translators have preferred to this, “I rejoiced in,” or “I talked of,” a version which some have given from the Greek ἠδολ™σχουν. For he who keepeth the commandments of God, which he loveth, both in thought and in works taking delight in them, is exercised with joy, and with a certain abundance of speech, in the judgments of God.