A Commentary on the Book of Psalms: Psalm 118 — Of the Excellence of Virtue Consisting in the Love and Observance of the Commandments of God
119 St. Augustine raises a serious question on this passage, as to how all sinners can be called prevaricators, whereas the Apostle says, “For where there is no law, there is no transgression;” and again, “For whosoever have sinned without the law, shall perish without the law.” The answer is, The first text is to be understood of law in general, the second text is to be understood of the written law only; and, therefore, that all sinners must be reckoned prevaricators, because they all transgress the natural law that is written on their hearts. But why does the prophet say so? In order to show that sin, the greatest of all evils, arises only from transgression of the law. He adds, “therefore have I loved thy testimonies.” I have loved your law in order to escape such an amount of misery.
120 He asks, finally, to be confirmed in the fear of God, that, through it, he may persevere in observing his law. “Pierce thou,” as if with a nail, “my flesh with thy fear;” my carnal desires, so that they cannot make any further commotion, as the Apostle says, “And they who are of Christ have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences.” “For I am afraid of thy judgments;” for I have begun to fear the dreadful punishments that your judgments threaten; and I, therefore, pray I may be so grounded in your holy fear that I may never be moved from it.
Ain
121 He asks, in the next octave, that he may be delivered from his calumniators, and for help to observe the law to perfection. “I have done judgment and justice;” I gave everyone his own, and it is, therefore, only meet that you “give me not up to them that slander me.”
122 “I have done judgment and justice;” but, that I may always do it, and never fail in doing it, “uphold thy servant unto good,” by directing him, so that he may always relish what is good, and then, the consequence will be, that “the proud will not calumniate me;” for he that is well established “unto good,” and so made up that nothing but what is good and righteous will be agreeable to him, he will so persevere that he will have no reason for fearing “the proud that calumniate him.”
123 He reasserts his having a most ardent desire for that perfect tendency to good, that will be enjoyed by the elect in eternity. “My eyes have fainted” from looking constantly with desire towards your salvation that is to come to us from heaven, “and for the word of thy justice,” and towards your most faithful promise. See 1st and 2nd verses of Caph.
124 He goes on with the prayer, begging that God may deal with him not according to his own merits, “but according to thy mercy,” which especially consists in teaching him “thy justifications;” that is, that he should impress him with a thorough conviction of the observance of God’s law being a good thing, and thus teach him not so much the theory as the practice of it. This happens when God gives one a great amount of love, and not when he gives knowledge alone, which, without love, puffs up without edifying.
125 The asking for the same thing repeatedly is a proof of one’s great desire for it. “I am thy servant,” and thus bound to execute your behests; therefore “give me understanding,” make me understand “thy testimonies,” that I may learn them perfectly. See first verse of Jod.
126 It is time for you, O Lord, to pass judgment on, and punish the wicked, because “they have dissipated thy law;” they have not only violated it, but they have altogether dissipated it, by not observing a single particle of it.
127–128 As so many “have dissipated thy law,” and I see the most dreadful punishment in store for them in consequence, I am, therefore, on the other hand, the more smitten with a love for thy law, and I value it more than gold or precious stones; and I, therefore, not only loved it, but I did my best to observe it, for “therefore was I directed to all thy commandments.” I walked in the direct path of them, turning neither to the right nor to the left; nay, more, “I have hated,” and consequently turned away from “all wicked ways,” the whole law of the flesh and of sin.
Phe
129 The prophet again returns, in the next eight verses, to praise the law, and to ask for grace for its perfect observance. He, therefore, praises the law by reason of its being wonderful, and having, on that account, studied it diligently. But how does this not contradict the expression of the Lord himself, regarding the commandments in Deuteronomy? “This commandment, that I command thee this day, is not above thee, nor far off from thee.” The answer is, that God’s laws, whether moral, judicial, or ceremonial, are not wonderful, as regards the literal meaning of them, and they are quite clear and easily comprehended, and they who break them cannot plead ignorance, and so Moses affirms in the same chapter. But as regards the mystic meaning, especially of the ceremonial laws, they are wonderful and most obscure, foreshadowing, as they do, all the mysteries of the Christian religion, to which the prophet alludes here. With that, the decalogue that principally contains God’s law is wonderful for being written in such plain and intelligible language, though it contains, in the smallest possible space, all the principles of justice on which all the laws that ever have been, or will be made, are based. All other laws are innumerable, have filled, and are still filling, many large volumes, and yet they are all conclusions or inferences from the laws of the decalogue. Thus, as small seeds are wonderful by reason of their having within them the germs of large trees, so the decalogue is wonderful by reason of its essentially comprising all the laws of the world.
130 As he said that God’s commandments were wonderful, he now adds, that if they be explained, either by the infusion of divine light, or by some learned teacher, they wonderfully enlighten the mind. Now, the law is declared or explained, when the mysteries indicated by the figures that are in the ceremonial law, are disclosed to us, when conclusions are drawn from the moral law, and, finally, when the decrees of the judicial law are applied to particular cases.
131 And I, as one of those little ones, “opened my mouth,” the mouth of my interior, by asking and praying, “and panted,” longed for the spirit of knowledge and piety, that I may understand and observe your commandments, for I longed both to understand and to observe them. The metaphor is taken from our natural respiration, for when we are worked hard, and nearly suffocated in consequence, we open our mouth and pant, on which we draw breath and get better.
132 In opening my mouth to pray, I said, “Look thou upon me, and have mercy on me.” Look on me with an eye of pity, and have mercy on me, laboring under the load of your commandments, which, through my own strength, I am not able to keep, “according to the judgment of them that love thy name.” Have the same mercy on me that you have on those friends of yours that truly love you.
133 You will have mercy on me, “according to the judgment of them that love thy name;” if you will “direct my steps according to thy words;” that is, if you will cause me, through your grace, to walk in the right way in the direction of your law; and thus, “let no iniquity have dominion over me,” let me do nothing that may cause me to be held a captive, for, as our Lord says, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.”
134 Direct my steps, then especially, when, confused by calumnies, there may be danger of straying from the right way, for “Calumny troubleth the wise, and shall destroy the strength of his heart.” “Redeem me from the calumnies of men.” Deliver me from their calumnies, that my mind being at rest, “I may keep thy commandments.”
135 He now repeats, in different words, what he said in verse 132. “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant.” For, as when the sun’s light is obscured by the intervention of the clouds, we are deprived thereby of light and heat, thus, when God does not help us with his grace, he seems either to hide his face or to envelope it in darkness; and, on the contrary, when he illuminates us with the light of his grace, he seems to disperse the envious clouds, and to show the serenity of his face; he, therefore, says, “Make thy face to shine,” look upon me with a face of serenity, and by the infusion of your light teach me thy justifications; that is, the knowledge and the observance of your laws.
136 The number of prayers, so oft repeated, for the grace of observing the law, is a proof of the earnest desire David had to keep it; which he now proves from the deep sorrow he feels for having broken it, for he says it was not one or two tears that he shed, but floods of tears (which he calls waters) from his eyes, like so many gushing fountains, “because they have not kept thy law.” For, though sin, that is, a transgression of the law, is the offspring of the will or the heart, still, the instruments by which it is committed are the eyes, the tongue, the hands. Now, the most grievous sins committed by David, and for which “he washed his couch every night with his tears,” were committed through the eyes; for he looked with too much curiosity at a naked female while she was bathing, that led him to concupiscence, and afterwards to adultery and murder.
Sade
137 God’s law is praised in this section, for its extreme fairness and justice. He first proves the law to be most just, by reason of its author being most just, one in whom injustice can have no place. He, therefore, says, “Thou art just, O Lord,” you are peculiarly just, you are the just one exclusively, you alone have the justice that excludes all manner of injustice, as St. John says, “God is light, and in him there is no darkness.”—“And thy judgment is right,” and, consequently, your judgment, decree, command, is always right and just. Throughout this Psalm the word “judgment” always means the law, though taking the word even to mean God’s allocation of rewards and punishments, it is then also most just, though we may not see the justice of it.