EXPOSITION ON PSALM 50
For the end, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
It is worth the effort to examine this psalm somewhat more carefully, so that, with the Lord granting it, we may merit to come to know the deep mysteries of its power. And since the king and prophet, as the history of the Kings testifies (2 Kings 11–12), humbled himself in satisfaction, and, when rebuked, did not blush to confess his sin publicly, the most holy Fathers have rightly judged him worthy of being honored with a most sacred figurative meaning.
Among others, blessed Jerome shows that Bathsheba bore the figure of the Church or of human flesh, as he explains on Amos 5:14. David himself, as is clear from many places, is said to have borne the image of the Lord Christ. And just as she, while she was being washed in the brook Cedron and having laid aside her garments, pleased David and was compelled to come to royal embraces, and her husband was slain by royal command, so also the Church, that is, the congregation of the faithful, having been washed from the filth of sins by the laver of holy baptism, is known to be joined to Christ the Lord.
Indeed, it was fitting in those times that through such an action the future mysteries of the Lord should be indicated, and that what seemed to be culpably done among men should be shown spiritually to refer to a great sacrament. For God also commanded the prophet Hosea to take to himself a wife of fornication (Hosea 1:2), so that it might be signified that the Church of the Gentiles, defiled by her sins, was to be cleansed by union with the Lord. We also find this done figuratively in Judah and Tamar his daughter-in-law, and in other similar cases, as the Apostle says: “All these things happened to them in figure” (1 Corinthians 10:11).
Concerning this same figure of David and Bathsheba, Saint Augustine also treated most carefully in the books he wrote against Faustus the Manichean, book 22, chapter 87. Hence, whether this likeness or another be considered, it greatly benefited the world that he sinned in such a way as to make satisfaction, so that from one man’s temporal wound the whole human race might receive eternal healing.
How great, I ask, was the humility of this blessed man in the acknowledgment of his fault, to whom, after pardon, there was such constancy in satisfaction! It is shown that the crime of adultery there was something foreign and unheard of, since it was wiped away with such intense application of mind. The sudden confession of the thief invites us; we rejoice that Peter’s tears were immediately regarded; the momentary humility of the publican encourages us. But David, while he strives to wash away his sins with prolonged sorrow, gave to the whole race the means by which it might be absolved, and he caused it that his tears, as they run through the mouths of later generations, are not dried up by any length of time.
Let us also consider what humility there was in the prophet. The heart of a prince was struck down like that of a private man, and he was angry rather with himself, who knew that he was justly blamed. The ruler of so many peoples became his own most severe torturer, exacting from himself punishments which he would scarcely have been able to bear if imposed on another by command. It is common for men to excuse their sins by clever allegations, but the most powerful king chose rather to accuse himself in the sight of all, establishing himself as guilty, whose judgment the people had been accustomed to fear. For this reason he deserved to be absolved by the Lord, because he did not defend his vices.
O sins, more to be guarded against in times of prosperity! In Saul’s persecution he exercised many virtues, but when he was placed in the security of the kingdom, he sinned. By this deed we are taught that worldly happiness is not to be sought, since one often profits more in affliction and sins in prosperity.
We must also remember that in this psalm there is set forth what is called concession. For concession is when the guilty person does not defend what he has done by any contest, but simply asks for pardon. This, without doubt, can be found generally in all the psalms of penitents.
Division of the Psalm
We see this psalm to be formed with a most fitting disposition into five parts, so that, just as all sin is gathered through the five senses, so in five parts the contracted iniquity may be expiated.
The first is the satisfaction of most perfect humility.
The second is confidence in the mercy of the Lord, which is always profitable for the faithful to have.
The third is the petition that the Lord turn away his gaze from his sins, but that the Holy Trinity, having mercy, look upon him instead.
The fourth adds that all sinners are to be more and more encouraged to the desire of supplication, since so great iniquity was remitted to him.
In the fifth part the cause of the Church is recalled, which was to be built through his seed by the coming of the Lord, where now, rejoicing, he promises calves to be offered upon her altar. Thus both devout supplication is concluded and the joys of future salvation are announced.
Exposition of the Psalm
Verse 1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy.
Verse 2. And according to the multitude of your mercies, blot out my iniquity.
That most powerful king and illustrious conqueror of many nations, when he had heard himself rebuked by the prophet Nathan, did not blush to confess his sin publicly, nor did he run to harmful excuses, to which shameless humanity is most inclined, but suddenly, prostrated by saving humility, offering himself to God, the purple-clad penitent begged with holy tears. For a faithful servant does not take up crafty denials, but quickly recognizes the committed faults.
A wondrous beginning! For by saying to the Judge, “Have mercy on me,” he is seen to have taken away the place of examination. This voice is not debated but is always heard in tranquility, and it is the only means by which we, though guilty, can be defended without any opposition. He asked for mercy, which he could not define, yet he nevertheless felt it to be greater than his sins in every way.
Who could sufficiently recount, as the most holy Fathers have said, how great it is, that it brought the Creator of the world down from heaven, clothed him in an earthly body, made the Maker equal in mortality while he remained equal to the Father in eternity, and imposed upon the Lord of the world the form of a servant: that the Bread should hunger, the Fountain of life should thirst, Power should grow weak, the Omnipotent Life should die; finally, that for us the Creator should serve, the Lord be sold, the Redeemer be humbled, the Exalter be slain, the Vivifier be killed. This was that great mercy of the Lord, which the holy man could not fully express, but through which he easily believed himself to be absolved, since through it he already knew that the human race could be freed.
And when he said, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy, it is an argument from things joined together. For mercy flows from the fountain of mercy.
He continues: And according to the multitude of your mercies, blot out my iniquity. What could he not give, when the Lord was asked to forgive according to himself? For the multitude of divine indulgence surpasses by far the greatness of sins, however great they may appear, nor could any fault prevail against such mercy invoked. This is an argument from the greater part: for the mercy of the Lord is much greater, even if our sins seem enormous.
Therefore he prays that, in all his faults, the multitude of mercy be applied, because he had received remission of present wickedness through the prophet, so that he might also merit to escape those which he remembered he had committed at various times. Most prudently, he wished no trace of sin to remain, because only he is written in the book of life whose sins are all blotted out.
Verse 3. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
He must be diligently washed who has been darkened by the poison of crimes, for he is not carelessly cleansed who is stained by gloomy infection. Thoroughly means on every side, in every part, so that even those sins might be forgiven which he had previously known himself to have committed. For someone may be so washed that he is not yet altogether most pure. But he adds cleanse me, so that nothing unclean may remain in him.
But this washing, which so cleanses the stains of sinners that what is sordid may be made whiter than snow, is recognized to signify the purity of saving baptism, in which both original sins and one’s own committed sins are so washed away that we are restored to that purity in which the first Adam is known to have been created. But would that we preserved the dignity of so great a gift, lest sins springing up again darken us! Therefore the prophet, in the prefiguration of holy baptism, asks to be cleansed from his iniquity, lest, being released in security, he seem negligent after pardon. For it must be guarded against lest our latter state be made guilty, as Solomon says: “Every man is praised at the end” (Ecclesiasticus 11:30).
Verse 4. For I acknowledge my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.
Knowing the Lord to be merciful, yet not ceasing to be just, he mingled equity with his supplications, so that what is asked might be more easily heard, since justice intervenes. He knows that sin deserves punishment, but therefore he says it must be spared by the Lord, because he confirms that it is condemned by himself, as Solomon says: “The just man is the first to accuse himself in the beginning of his speech” (Proverbs 18:17).
Let us attend to what he says: I acknowledge. Those sins are stronger which we commit knowingly, not those which we commit through ignorance. Or he means this: many can know their sins, but only those are proven truly to acknowledge them who seem to condemn them by their own detestation. For perfect penance is to avoid future sins and to mourn past ones.
Earlier he committed the crime when, questioned by the prophet, he answered that he who coveted the poor man’s ewe lamb was worthy of death (2 Kings 12:5–6), when he did not believe his own sin should be bewailed. But now he repents, when prostrated he humbly groans. He says that his sin stands against him like a kind of figurative image. He added always, that is, what he continually looks upon, even when he closes his eyes. This continual regard of sins shows perseverance in pious supplication, for as often as we look upon such things in the heart, so often we deplore what has been committed.
He said in a former psalm: “I will reprove you and set it before your face” (Psalm 49:21), which here the most holy man himself does to himself when he says: My sin is always before me. He therefore rightly asked to be absolved, who already here seemed to have made for himself that vision of the future judgment. This figure is called procatalepsis, that is, anticipation: for here, as though already placed in the coming judgment, he trembles at the most dreadful sight of his sins.
Verse 5. Against you only have I sinned, and have done evil before you, that you may be justified in your words and may overcome when you are judged.
Here again an enthymematic syllogism appears, which we have already mentioned in the twentieth psalm. Its proposition is: the Lord is justified in his words and overcomes when he is judged. To this is joined in conclusion the previously stated sentence: Therefore against you only have I sinned and have done evil before you. In rendering syllogisms, this is permitted without fault according to the custom of the ancients.
Now let us return to explaining the words. If someone from the people sins, he sins against God and the king. But when the king sins, he is guilty to God alone, because he has no man who can judge his deeds. Therefore the king rightly says that he sinned against God alone, because he alone was able to examine what he had done. And because he knew that God was everywhere present, he rightly laments that he did evil before him, accusing his own madness, because he did not fear to sin with so great a Judge present.
The words of the Lord are rightly said to be justified, because without doubt his sayings are always fulfilled, as he himself says: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
He continues: And you may overcome when you are judged. God is of such justice that he even wills to be judged with men. For he himself says: “Judge between me and my vineyard” (Isaiah 5:3), and elsewhere: “O my people, what have I done to you, or how have I afflicted you? Answer me” (Micah 6:3). Therefore the prophet now confesses that he has such justice against himself in the Lord that God absolutely prevails when he is judged.
Thus also Baruch says: “You shall say to the Lord our God: To you belongs justice, but to us confusion of face” (Baruch 1:15). For he considered in his mind that he had been made king from a shepherd, that he had received peoples to govern, and yet had sinned without regard for his honor. Therefore it was necessary that the prophet be overcome in another’s judgment, who was already known to be conquered in his own examination.
Some understand this also of Christ, who was to come from his seed in the assumption of flesh, so that he would also foretell the future Passion and announce the glory of the Resurrection, and from this he says that he ought not to have sinned, since he had merited to know such things. O holy simplicity! Who could labor so much for his own condemnation as this man labored for it? This is an argument from causes: for he says that after so many benefits bestowed, he ought not to have fallen into such sins.
Verse 8. You will sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; you will wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.
Having been prostrated in the former supplication, he now rises in the second part, trusting in the mercy of the Lord, lest, which is the worst of all sins, he be seen to despair of the clemency of almighty God. Hyssop, although it is a very small herb, is proven to be suitable for internal wounds of men. And in the book of Leviticus, dipped in the blood of the victim, it was accustomed to be sprinkled seven times upon the body of the leper (Leviticus 14:6–7), signifying that by the precious blood of the Lord Savior the stains of sins are effectively washed away.
By this likeness the prophet begs to be freed, so that by the saving blood of Christ, which he piously believed was to come, he might merit the gifts of absolution. For by hyssop he signifies the sacraments which we have spoken of, which not only cleanse defilements, but also show the purity of a shining soul whiter than snow.
But nothing can be found in bodies whiter than snow; therefore he said whiter than snow, because the spiritual soul shines far above cleansed bodies. This figure is called hyperthesis, that is, exaggeration or superlative expression, when we strive to surpass by our statement something known in the opinion of all. Such is also what was said in the seventeenth psalm: “He flew, he flew upon the wings of the winds” (Psalm 18:11).
Verse 9. To my hearing you will give joy and gladness, and the humbled bones shall rejoice.
Here pious confidence in the Divinity is shown, so that he says he will hear such things as double joy and gladness. Joy pertains to absolution; gladness to the possession of everlasting rewards. To hear joy and gladness is to hear what is promised to those absolved: “Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
He continues: And the humbled bones shall rejoice, namely, when that voice has been heard. This is an argument from consequences. For it is necessary that, when these things have been heard, gladness should follow. By bones are signified the strong supports of the soul, which had to be utterly humbled as long as this penitent could be absolved. He said humbled on account of the consciousness of his error, which always profitably makes men humble.
Verse 10. Turn away your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
He comes to the third part, asking the merciful Judge not to look upon sins which even to himself seemed horrible. But consider how beautifully rules are given from contraries. If we turn our faces away from our sins, it is harmful, because we forget and act negligently what we ought to wash away by continual weeping. But if the Lord does not turn away, he destroys, because he judges the sins which he sees.
Thus he prays elsewhere: “Do not turn your face away from me, lest I be like those who go down into the pit” (Psalm 143:7). For if we are looked upon, we are absolved by the mercy of the Savior, as is said of Peter in the Gospel: “And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:61–62).
He continues: And blot out all my iniquities. Though called to account for two crimes, this most prudent petitioner begs, for all his sins, that they be forgiven. For he knew that he had done many things beyond what the justice of the present time was accusing. Thus, by a saving brevity, he asked that whatever could be accused be remitted to him by one pardon. Blot out, when it is said, signifies forgive, because all that we have committed is as though written on certain tablets and contained in divine knowledge.
Verse 11. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within my inward parts.
We must examine these verses carefully word by word, so that the sense may shine forth more clearly for us. To create we say is to institute something new, so that what was not may be seen to exist. And how can we say that David did not have a clean heart before sin, of whom the Lord said: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who shall do all my wills” (cf. Psalm 89:3-4; Acts 13:22)?
But create here must be understood as restore from where he fell. Therefore the prophet asks that such a clean heart be created in him, which, once restored, could no longer be moved to guilt by the impulses of sins, but, fixed by stability, could not change its good purpose. This, indeed, will be given to the saints after the resurrection. But this penitent man, eager for good things and inflamed by desire for the future reward, asked that what could happen in the future might be granted in the present.
When he says “a right Spirit,” he indicates the Son of God, the Word, of whom it is said in another Psalm: “The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness” (Psalm 45:7). He rightly called him Spirit according to the nature of the Godhead, for it is written: “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). Renew is placed here by the figure of hypallage, not as though the Son himself were to be renewed, but that he who had been made old by sins might be renewed through grace. For it is he who renews us, who, when the old man is put off, transforms us into the new gifts of his regeneration. For just as through Adam we were made old, so through the benefits of Christ the Lord we are made new, as the Apostle says: “Putting off the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new, who is created according to God” (Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9–10).
He added, “in my inward parts,” because he knew that the detestable crime of adultery had gone forth from there. In both respects he sought a remedy, because in both he had sinned. And observe with what intensity he desires to be cleansed, so that you may understand that he wished never again to commit such a sin. For just as severed members cannot return to their former union, so former sins cannot return to a true penitent. Yet, as some prefer to interpret it differently, the prophet asks that God create in him a clean heart, not seeking something he did not have, but asking that what was clean might be made clean anew. For Scripture says to the faithful: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17), not as though another were created who did not exist, but because a new illumination proceeds in what already existed.
Verse 12. “Cast me not away from your face, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.”
He is cast away from the face who is despised for healing. And what shall the sick man do if the medicine is withdrawn? For he knew that from that face comes the health of the mind and the light of wisdom, and he believed that he would be handed over to the enemy if he were judged to be expelled from the countenance of the Lord. Therefore he wishes only this: that he may be looked upon, since above he had cried out that his sins ought not to be looked upon. O the mind of the prophet! After human errors, he is silent about earthly power and does not ask for worldly affections; he asks only that the spirit of prophecy not be taken from him, which he held more precious than all things. Thus Jeremiah bears witness to the greatness of this gift, saying: “The Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth and said to me: Behold, I have put my words in your mouth; behold, I have set you over nations and kingdoms, to uproot and to destroy, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:9–10). Therefore he rightly begged that what he knew he possessed above all riches might be preserved. And notice that he did not say, “Give me,” as though he did not have it, but “Take it not away,” for such and so great a supplication could not be made except through the Holy Spirit.
Verse 13. “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and strengthen me with a princely Spirit.”
He returns to the Son of God, whom, to show that he is Christ, he calls “your Salvation.” For by his birth salvation came to the nations, and what had formerly been known to a few through exceptional faith was made known to the whole world. Therefore when he says, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation,” he signifies Christ, by whose contemplation he was glad even amid tears, and by whose prophetic gift he was nourished even during the fasts of his penance. He said “restore,” because he felt that something of grace had been diminished in him; for one departs from that saving grace in proportion as one conducts oneself in blameworthy living. When he says “Restore to me the joy of your salvation,” he acknowledges that he had without doubt lost the grace of the Holy Spirit, which human frailty cannot retain when it sins.
And “with a princely Spirit strengthen me.” That most holy king and wonderful prophet did not seek to subdue foreign nations by war, but, carried away by contemplation, he more eagerly desired to be established in the principal intellect than to be held in the summit of earthly rule. He says “strengthen me,” lest I sin again, lest by the mutability of the soul I depart from you. Nor should we think it without reason that the holy man, illumined in heart, named Spirit for the third time, unless because, devoted to the undivided Trinity, he sought pardon to be granted him by it. For Spirit, with respect to the essence of the Godhead, is rightly said of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God; but for the distinction of persons, it is proper to the Father that he naturally begot the Son without beginning; proper to the Son that he is naturally begotten of the Father; proper to the Holy Spirit that he proceeds from the Father and the Son, by whose ineffable charity and cooperation their consubstantial eternity and power accomplish all things they will in heaven and on earth.
Although these things are incomprehensible and inexplicable to us now as they truly are, yet some of the Fathers propose certain likenesses from corporeal and simultaneous realities. For we find in the sun three properties: first, the bodily substance itself which is the sun; second, its splendor which abides in it; third, the heat which from its splendor reaches us. If any likeness may be found for so great a reality, it may be considered in this way: what is in the sun as bodily substance may in some way be understood in the Trinity as the person of the Father; what is in the sun as its splendor may be understood as the person of the Son, as the Apostle says, “the splendor of his glory” (Hebrews 1:3); and what is in the sun as heat may be understood as the person of the Holy Spirit, as it is written: “Who can hide himself from its heat?” (Psalm 19:6).
Another example is also given from incorporeal things, namely from the soul, which is known to be made in the image of God. The soul is an incorporeal rational substance, in which are intellect and life. What in the soul is substance may, if it is lawful to say so, be understood in the Trinity as the person of the Father; what in the soul is power and knowledge may be understood as the Son, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God; and what in the soul is the property of giving life may be understood in the Trinity as the Holy Spirit, through whom the work of giving life is proclaimed in many places to be accomplished, as Peter the Apostle says: “Put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18); and the Apostle: “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6); and in the Gospel the Lord says: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63).
Yet these three, which we have mentioned, are never found separated, although our intellect can perceive them distinctly; for they are so naturally united that when one of them is presented, all three are always present together. Thus through these likenesses some imagination of the truth of so great a mystery is opened to us. There are also other similar discussions of the Fathers, but which our present weakness of the flesh prevents us from understanding clearly; then they will be much more perfectly comprehended, when the blessed shall see the Divinity in its majesty. Whoever desires to know these more fully should not cease to read the books on the Trinity of Saint Hilary, Saint Ambrose, and Saint Augustine. For this matter is as great as it is long to dispute.
Verse 14. “I will teach the unjust your ways, and the impious shall be converted to you.”
He enters the fourth part of the supplication, where, after being heard, he shows what glory there will be in God’s sparing, so that he himself, now most pure, may be acquired as one who converts others from unbelief. For it is written: “He who causes a sinner to be converted from the error of his way shall save his soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). There are two kinds of teachers: one who instructs by examples, the other who is known to admonish sinners by words alone. Here both are understood. He therefore says that if pardon is granted to the prophet, the greatest hope of remission is given to sinners. For who would not be inclined to conversion when the king and prophet offers an example of pardon granted to himself?
Or this may also be understood thus: that, freed from a great disaster, he could proclaim to the nations the various great works of the Lord, as the text of the following psalms shows. He also promises a profitable compendium, that from the one to whom pardon was granted, many impious would be acquired for God by the virtue of providence. For how many, through these words, supplicating the Lord, are made free from guilt, happily absolved from bonds! This is said not from pride, but—
Verse 15. “Deliver me from bloods, O God, God of my salvation, and my tongue shall exult in your justice.”
Although in Latin the plural number bloods seems strange, since it is contained in the Greek exemplars, the translator is wholly to be praised; for he preferred to set something against the art of secular speech rather than to depart from the truth as it is set down. For if he had said from blood in the singular, he might seem to indicate one sin only; but when he places the plural number, he undoubtedly confesses that they are many. This is a figure called exallage, that is, a change, when either gender, case, or number is altered contrary to custom. The prophet therefore asks to be delivered from carnal sins, that he may now cease to sin in this frailty. For blood is put for the human body, because among the other humors it is seen to be the chief and more powerful. Thus also in the Gospel it is said to Peter: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you” (Matthew 16:17). God of my salvation signifies the Lord Savior, through whom salvation is given to the piously believing. He added: “and my tongue shall exult in your justice,” that is, if you deliver me from bloods, which is understood of sins, my tongue will justly proclaim your praise. For what was said in the previous psalm: “But to the sinner God said: Why do you declare my justices?” (Psalm 49[50]:16). Once absolved, he can rightly speak, whom the divine law forbade while he was a sinner.
Some may ask why, after the remission of sin, he said “I will praise your justice” rather than what seemed more fitting, “I will praise your mercy.” For one who has prayed to be absolved indulgently should give thanks for mercy. But if you consider the cause with deep reason, it was also of divine justice to hear one who cried out, to spare one who supplicated, and to receive one who confessed. Or because these two things are always joined in the judgment of the Lord, as he will say in the hundredth psalm: “Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord” (Psalm 101:1).
Verse 16. “O Lord, you will open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.”
The lips of the prophet, which had been closed by the condition of sin, he declares must be opened by the benefit of absolution. For those placed in guilt have condemned mouths, as Isaiah says: “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). The mouth also signifies the hidden place of the heart, from which divine praise is efficaciously sung. Therefore he rightly declares that after absolution his lips are to be opened and that his mouth can proclaim the praises of the Lord.
Verse 17. “For if you had desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it; but you will not be delighted with holocausts.”
Knowing himself guilty through the intervention of sin, the humble petitioner insinuates that, as king, he could easily have offered sacrifices of cattle, which at that time were still rendered for the expiation of sins, if the Lord were pleased to accept holocausts. But when he says, “with holocausts you will not be delighted,” he signifies the rites of sacred immolations of cattle, which were to be rejected at the coming of the Lord. Hence it is clear that the prophet was so wholly lifted up to the Lord in mind that he did not believe himself to be expiated by the sacrifices that were being performed at that time, but rather by that oblation which he says below.
Verse 18. “A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; a contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise.”
After he has said which sacrifices God rejects, now he says which he seeks. For we give this sacrifice to God: a spirit of pride slain by the humility of confession, from which blood does not flow, but streams of tears run down. For when the spirit is joyful, it binds us; when it is contrite according to God, it absolves us. By the fifth kind of definition, which in Greek is called κατὰ τὴν λέξιν (according to the word), he defines what is the sacrifice most acceptable to God, namely, a contrite spirit. Then follows the most certain promise of this sentence, by which now pardon is no longer asked but is promised by God to the humble: “A contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise.” He says contrite, greatly afflicted by the labors of penance; humbled, that it may be devoted to God, having been formerly proud by exaltation. And see how the order of things stands: for the heart could not be humbled unless it had first been broken by frequent tribulation. When he says “God will not despise,” this is now the authority of a holy promise, which is proclaimed rather than petitioned, namely, that God will not despise such offerings, just as he is known to have rejected the former sacrifices.
It is clear that in Scripture the heart is often placed for understanding, for the Gospel says: “From the heart come evil thoughts” (Matthew 15:19); and Peter says to Simon: “Your heart is not right before God” (Acts 8:21); Isaiah testifies: “The heart of this people has grown dull” (Isaiah 6:10); and in the fourth psalm: “How long, O you heavy of heart?” (Psalm 4:3); and in the seventh: “He who searches hearts and reins” (Psalm 7:9). Here also above he said: “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” so that it is clear to all that there is the fountain of our thoughts, and that from there both good and evil proceed.
Verse 19. “Deal kindly, O Lord, in your good pleasure with Zion, that the walls of Jerusalem may be built.”
He enters the fifth and final part, in which, having laid aside the anxiety of calamities, mindful of the divine promise, he joyfully asks that what the Lord had deigned to promise may be done. He therefore prays that, since the Synagogue placed under the Law had sinned, Zion, that is, the Catholic Church succeeding through the grace of Christ, may be strengthened. Therefore he says: “In your good pleasure, do good to Zion,” as though that mountain had not yet been established. But consider that in it the Church is signified, through which the world is adorned. O royal patroness of all lands! O city of the great King, who bear both the image and the name of the heavenly fatherland! Who would dare to call you local, you who are proven to have filled the boundaries of the whole world with most holy faith? If you wish to consider history, it perhaps signifies the times of Theodosius, when Eudoxia, his most religious consort, enlarged that well-deserving city and crowned it with a better circuit of walls.
Verse 20. “Then you will accept a sacrifice of justice, oblations and holocausts; then they shall place calves upon your altar.”
Often the most holy men so allege something that they also add a vow of promise, as in: “What shall I render to the Lord for all that he has rendered to me? I will take the chalice of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord” (Psalm 116:12–13). So here he says to the Father: “Then you will accept a sacrifice of justice,” that is, the most glorious Passion of your Son, who offered himself as a sacrifice for all, so that the world might receive the salvation which it could not merit by its own works. Most beautifully it is defined what the venerable Passion of the Lord is, namely, a sacrifice of justice.
Then follow oblations and holocausts. This now pertains to the faithful Christians who would believe after the coming of the Lord, signifying the immolation of the hearts of living men, not the members of dead cattle. For those were consumed by perishable fire; these are crucified by a living fire. Those were reduced at once to ashes; these, by being burned for a time by tribulations, lead souls to the eternal joys of the delightful paradise.
Then he says: “Then they shall place calves upon your altar,” namely, priests, when the Catholic Church shall have been built by the Passion of the Lord. For since above he said “with holocausts you will not be delighted,” one may ask why here again he promises that calves will be immolated. This is said by the figure of allegory, which says one thing and signifies another. By calves he means either innocent adults, whose age is first and whose neck is proven free from the yoke of sin, and thus he remained in such language to show that the act of the former Law was an image of future realities. Or he promises those preachers of the Gospel, whose image Luke the Evangelist assumed in the figure of the calf, who would not strike the air with lowing, but would fill the whole world with the preaching of the faith of the Lord. Or rather we should understand as calves those who offered their own souls as a sacrifice of sweetness upon the sacred altars. For even Father Augustine, treating of those evangelical figures, in certain places (Sermons 70 and 100 on the Seasons) calls the Lord himself a calf, who offered himself as a victim for the salvation of all. Therefore, whether it be understood of youths, or of preachers, or of martyrs, the prophet could rightly promise such calves upon the altars of the Lord as he knew to be fitting for the Christian religion.
The conclusion of the Psalm.
A most sweet Psalm has flowed forth from the bitter fountain of compunction. But what tears must we believe the people of Israel then poured out, when their prince bewailed himself in so great an affliction? For who would not weep while he wept? Who would not groan while he grieved, when for a jeweled diadem the king wore ashes upon his head, gray not with age but with dust? For he did not wish to appear outwardly adorned who knew himself inwardly to be most foul; more beautiful in his very defilements, because he despised the pomp of the world in his sins. The sorrow of one heart was surely the correction of a whole city, when he incurred the charge of madness who at that time presumed to be joyful.
Truly blessed, three and four times blessed, is that city in which even the lord of the age deserved to repent before God, and in which the heavenly King received the glory of the Cross. From this it comes to pass that, since in this book seven penitential Psalms are taught, it has been received into the usage of the Churches that whenever pardon of sins is sought, supplication is made to the Lord especially through this one — and not without reason.
First, because in no Psalm is found so great a humility of virtue, which is most necessary for penitents, as when a mighty king, established in prophetic dignity, hastens to bewail his sins as though he were the least of men. Secondly, because after the promise of absolution he bound himself with so great a necessity of tears, as though nothing at all had been forgiven him. A temperate and fitting kind of supplication has therefore plainly been chosen, which every age that is truly wise ought to desire and can fulfill even suddenly.
For here nothing difficult is enjoined, as in the other penitential Psalms: not that which is said in the sixth Psalm, Every night I will wash my bed; with my tears I will water my couch (Psalm 6:7); nor that which is said in the thirty-first Psalm, Your hand was heavy upon me; I was turned in my affliction while the thorn was fastened (Psalm 32:4); nor that which is said in the thirty-seventh Psalm, My wounds have become putrid and corrupt because of my foolishness (Psalm 38:6); nor that which is said in the hundred and first Psalm, For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with weeping (Psalm 102:10); nor that which is said in the hundred and twenty-ninth Psalm, Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord (Psalm 130:1); nor that which is said in the hundred and forty-first Psalm, The enemy has persecuted my soul; he has humbled my life to the ground; he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of old, and my spirit is in anguish within me (Psalm 142:3).
But the king, rebuked by the prophet and terrified by the recognition of his sin, asks of the most merciful Judge that, through His mercy, being washed from the filth of all his sins, he may be restored altogether most pure. Thus the best of teachers elsewhere imposed stricter satisfactions upon stronger souls, and granted this tempered remedy to the weak, which Holy Mother Church has rightly chosen, in order by every means to invite her children to the grace of most gentle confession.
For perhaps this too may be understood, why he said in this Psalm, I will teach the unjust your ways, and the impious shall be converted to you, because he foresaw that the peoples who would come after would, through this Psalm, seek the gifts of most abundant penance.
Let us clearly consider this also: why it is that frequent meditation on this Psalm, even if repeated, does not hinder us from seeking ecclesiastical honors; yet if, by a priest above us, it is imposed upon us under a vow of penance, then we are justly forbidden by the canons to advance further. For whatever we receive in the name of Christ ought to be for us an inviolable and definitive judgment. Thus it comes to pass that although it is permitted for each one to practice penance continually within himself, yet when it is given through a priest, it does not permit us thereafter to advance to ecclesiastical honors.
Nor is its number without meaning. For it pertains to the year of jubilee, which among the Hebrews released old debts and obligations, which the Lord in Leviticus commanded to be called a year of remission for all the inhabitants of the land. It pertains also to Pentecost, when after the Ascension of the Lord the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, working miracles and granting gifts of charisms. Thus also this Psalm, placed in the count as the fiftieth, if it is said with a pure heart, dissolves sins, cancels the handwriting of our obligation, and renders us free from the debts of sins, as in a year of remission, by the favor of the Lord.
CONTINUE
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