A Commentary on the Book of Psalms: Psalm 108 — David, in the Person of Christ, Prayeth Against His Persecutors; More Especially the Traitor Judas: Foretelling and Approving His Just Punishment for His Obstinacy in Sin, and Final Impenitence
Psalm 108
David, in the Person of Christ, Prayeth Against His Persecutors; More Especially the Traitor Judas: Foretelling and Approving His Just Punishment for His Obstinacy in Sin, and Final Impenitence
Explanation Of The Psalm
1 Words extremely like the expressions of Christ when he said, John 17, “And now glorify thou me, O Father.” Christ, then, as man, asks God, his Father, not to be silent in his praise; that is, as regards his innocence, charity, and other virtues, which was literally accomplished through the Apostles, who, filled with the Holy Ghost, announced the praises of Christ in all languages through the entire world. It was also accomplished through the martyrs, who came after them; through the confessors and doctors, who, with their blood, or by their example, by their preaching, their writings, or their miracles, announced the praises of Christ to all ages and all nations. He then assigns a reason for asking such glory from God, because there are not wanting those who, by their false accusations, will seek to detract from his glory; “the mouth of the wicked and of the deceitful man,” of Caiphas and Judas, and, in fact, of all the Jews, “is opened against me.” He couples the wicked with the deceitful man, because Christ’s persecutors, full as they were of envy and malice, still affected a regard for Christ when they said, “Master, we know that thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth.” Thus they were sinners in hating him. They should have loved; and they were deceitful, because, under the guise of friendship, they sought to entrap him in his discourse. Or some of them were avowed sinners, namely, those who openly blasphemed him, saying, “he was a seducer, and that it was in Beelzebub he cast out devils;” while others who were occult sinners and deceitful, put to him questions as if for information, but with a view to lay snares for his character and for his life.
2 He now explains the expression “the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me;” the mouth of the latter was opened when they praised me as a good master, and, at the same time, were only seeking to take advantage of anything that may slip from me; and the mouth of the former, or of the wicked, was opened, because “they have compassed me about with words of hatred,” giving expression to their inward hatred of me when they said, “This man is not from God. Behold, a man that is a glutton and a wine drinker. Away with him, away with him, crucify him.” But, whether covertly or openly, “they fought against me without cause;” for they had no reason whatever in returning evil for good.
3 He explains a phrase in the last verse, “without cause.” For when they should have returned love for love they only turned to detract me; while I, instead of returning evil for evil, turned to pray for them; which he did openly when he exclaimed on the cross, “Father, forgive them,” and which he most likely did also in private as often as he heard their detractions.
4 He repeats that more emphatically, as if he said, for my blessings I got naught but maledictions, hatred for love, numerous wounds for all my cures, death itself for life conferred on them.
5 The prophet now passes on to Judas, who, he foresaw, would be “the leader of them that apprehended Jesus;” and, in the shape of an imprecation, foretells everything that was to happen to him. “Set thou the sinner over him.” Judas would not have Christ our Lord, the most just and the most meek of men, as a master, and you will, therefore, put the spirit of avarice over him, to which he will be a wretched slave to the day of his death. Judas preferred being a slave to mammon, and, therefore, could not be a servant of Christ; for “nobody can serve two masters.” Now, the spirit of avarice is one of the greatest injustices; for it gives the honor that is due to God to an idol, as the Apostle calls it, “the service of idols.”—“And may the devil stand at his right hand.” The devil will be his guide in all his acts, will constantly stand alongside him, or will rather drag him with the chain of avarice, as he would a dog, and excite him to bite his own master.
6 The prophet now predicts that most unhappy end of Judas; to which prophecy Christ himself seems to refer when he said, “Those whom thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them have perished except the son of perdition, that the Scripture may be fulfilled.”—“When he is judged,” on his departure from this world, “may he go out;” meaning, he will go out “condemned;” and should he chance to pray to God, his prayer will not only be of no avail, but it will “be turned into sin.” St. Jerome says that Judas’s prayer was turned into sin, by reason of his want of hope when he prayed; and thus it was that in despair he hanged himself. St. Augustine says it was because he did not pray through Christ, as a mediator. Others say it was because Judas, in common with other persecutors, prayed for the extirpation of Christianity. To which may be added, that Judas’s prayer was turned to sin because, instead of asking assistance from God, he asked it of the devil, who suggested to him the hanging of himself. We must remark, though, that the prayer of a sinner is not always sinful, but, on the contrary, goes a great way to obtain forgiveness, as did the prayer of the publican; but it becomes sinful when the person praying offers it to those to whom he should not offer it, such as to idols or to the devil; or when he prays for what he should not ask God for, such as for the downfall of his enemies; or when, instead of praying through the one mediator Christ, he presumes on his own merits; or, finally, when he does not pray with faith, hope, and the other necessary accompaniments of prayer. All this applies to the Jews, as well as to Judas, of whom he was the type. The Jews, who depart this life without believing in Christ, will receive eternal punishment: and the prayers they daily use in their synagogues are “turned to sin to them;” because they do not pray through the Son; for they know neither him nor the Father, and because they pray for things God does not wish to grant them, such as the destruction of all Christians, and the speedy coming of Antichrist, whom they will acknowledge, as has been foretold in the Scripture.
7 This is the passage quoted by St. Peter, to show the necessity of electing an Apostle in place of Judas, and whereas the Apostles and disciples concurred with Peter in his interpretation of the passage, we are, of necessity, obliged to do the same. “Men brethren, the Scripture must be fulfilled which the Holy Ghost foretold by the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who was the leader of them that apprehended Jesus.” The prophecy was fulfilled to the letter in Judas; “his days were few,” as regards his life, or his Apostleship; “and another got his bishopric;” Matthias, who was “another” in every sense of the word, being neither a relation, friend, or acquaintance; and like him in nowise either in life or morals. The word “bishopric,” in Hebrew, implies inspection, supervision; which a bishop must do frequently, as he has to render an account of his sheep, a thing that cannot be accomplished by those who reside far from their flocks. This, too, was realized in regard of the Jews; for, after the sin of Judas, short, indeed, were the days of their episcopacy, that is, of their priesthood; and another took it, for the priesthood of Aaron was at once transferred to that of Melchisedech, many of whose priests are this day to be found all over the world, with not one of Aaron.
8 For fear anyone may suppose that Judas was condemned to a certain punishment during his life, which was not shortened though he was deprived of his position as an Apostle, the prophet declares that his days were numbered, for his wife was at once to become a widow, and his children orphans; as actually happened, for he hung himself the same day: and in a very short time after, when Jerusalem was sacked, nearly all the men perished, leaving innumerable widows and orphans to deplore them.
9 Judas’s sin was to be visited on his children; they were to be outcasts from their own country, and beggars in another.
10 We are told here how it will come to pass that the children of Judas and the Jews will be in future a lot of paupers and beggars, because their creditors, when they find them unable to pay, will hunt them up and plunder them of everything they can lay hands on; and should anything escape them, the unfortunate people will be robbed of it “by the strangers,” by the soldiers of Titus, who even ripped them up in search of the gold and jewels they were suspected of having swallowed.