Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Psalm 118 (Beati Imaculati)
Ver. 71. Humbled me. "It is good for the proud to fall into some open sin, (Calmet) whence they may be displeased at themselves." (St. Augustine) --- A patient thanks his physician for having used a necessary severity. (Theodoret) (Calmet)
Ver. 72. Silver, above all the world. (Worthington)
Ver. 73. Hands. Power (Berthier) and love. (Theodoret) --- We may confidently pray to our Creator for light, (Worthington) and that he may perfect his work. (Menochius)
Ver. 74. See me advance in virtue. (Worthington) --- The angels rejoice at the conversion of a sinner, (Luke xv. 10.) as the Church does at her children's progress. (St. Jerome) --- All the just will be glad to see me delivered. (Calmet)
Ver. 75. Truth. Though we may not discern the particular causes of our suffering, we must be convinced that they are right. (Worthington) --- Sinners are afflicted that they may amend, and the just for their advancement. (Calmet)
Ver. 76. Mercy. Jesus Christ, according to St. Jerome.
Ver. 78. Ashamed. Literally, "confounded," not accomplishing their wicked designs. (Calmet) --- Thus may they be induced to entertain that shame for sin which bringeth life, (Haydock) and cease to offend. (Theodoret) --- Let them be converted: though it be also (Haydock) lawful to desire that obstinate sinners may undergo just punishment. (Worthington) --- The saints pray thus out of zeal for their good. It may also be a prediction, as the Hebrew word (Berthier) yebshu is in the future. (Haydock) --- Done. Hebrew, "falsely perverted," (Montanus) in desire; (Calmet) or "having wished to pervert me without cause." (Pagnin) --- But to pervert, means also to treat ill; and hivvethuni has that sense here, (Haydock) according to the best authors. (Berthier)
Ver. 79. Turn to me. Let the wicked (Worthington) among those who adore the true God, enter into themselves, that we may form a holy league to support each other. (Haydock) --- May we all obtain our liberty, (Calmet) or may they imitate my constancy. (St. Ambrose)
Ver. 81. Salvation. All the saints sighed after our Saviour's coming, (Matthew xiii. 17.) as they still do, 2 Timothy iv. 8. (Worthington) --- The deliverance from Babylon was a figure of redemption. The next verse is of the same import. (Calmet)
Ver. 83. Like a bottle in the frost. In the Hebrew, like a bottle in the smoke. That is, I am become, through my sufferings in this mortal pilgrimage, as a leathern bottle, shrunk up because of being exposed to the frost or smoke. (Challoner) --- So the bodies of the just are exposed to mortification, that they may become like new bottles, capable of containing the new wine of the gospel doctrine, Matthew ix. 17. (Worthington) --- Goats' skins, with the hair inward, are still used in some places to contain liquors. (Calmet) --- They were hung over the smoke, to make the wine old, or fit for drinking sooner. (Colum. i. 6.)
Amphoræ fumum bibere institutæ,
Consule Tullo. (Horace 3. Od. 8.) (Calmet)
Ver. 84. Servant. The just may lawfully desire the term of their sufferings, with submission to God's will, (Worthington) and to be freed from the power of persecutors, (Hebrew, "the proud;" Berthier) and from exile, after their enemies are punished, Psalm xxxviii. 5. (Calmet)
Ver. 85. Fables. Idle tales, not agreeable to God's law. (Worthington) --- Such were the theology and histories of the pagans. (Calmet) --- Such are still the false maxims of the world, and many books designed to corrupt the morals of the age. (Haydock) --- The Jews confined themselves to their own divine books. Hebrew, Chaldean, &c., "The proud have dug pits for me, which is not conformable to thy law," (Calmet) but forbidden expressly. (Haydock) --- The Septuagint seem to have followed a better reading. (Calmet) --- Houbigant rejects the word pits, and in effect, we may understand the Hebrew in the sense of the Vulgate, "They have prepared (or told me) vain discourses." (Berthier)
Ver. 86. Help me. He does not pray to be exempted from trials, but that he may have grace to gain the victory. (St. Hilary)
Ver. 87. Earth. Babylon; (Calmet) though this is never styled simply the earth. It refers to all the enemies of salvation, particularly to our own passions. (Berthier)
Ver. 89. In heaven. In the faithful angels, (St. Augustine) or Jesus Christ. (Bellanger.) --- The promises seem not to have their effect here; but they will in heaven. (Berthier) --- The word of God is as unchangeable as heaven. (Calmet) --- The psalmist praises God's works, which observe the order established by him. (Worthington) --- How then can we doubt but his law and promises shall be accomplished? (Haydock)
Ver. 90. All. Literally, "unto generation and generation," which the fathers explain of the true faith, which has subsisted in the synagogue and in the Church of Christ alone. (St. Hilary, St. Ambrose, &c.) (Calmet) --- Those who did not belong to the former, in the first ages of the world, might still form a part of the latter, like Job, &c. Without faith it is, and always was, impossible to please God, Hebrews xi. 6.
Ver. 91. Serve thee. Except man, (Worthington) and angels who rebel; and yet they also are forced to serve as victims of justice, if they have refused to accept of mercy. (Haydock)
Ver. 92. Abjection. Man cannot rise from sin without grace, and attention to the law. (Worthington) --- This supports him under the punishment of sin. (Haydock) --- Meditation alleviates his grief, which might otherwise have proved mortal. (Berthier)
Ver. 95. Understood. Or "shall understand." I am already able to encounter my enemies, Philippians ii. 15. (Calmet)
Ver. 96. Perfection, of a worldly nature. (Haydock) --- All have their limits. But God's law bindeth for ever, as the rewards and punishments are eternal. (Worthington) --- Broad. Charity, which extends both to God and our neighbour. (St. Augustine) --- The law is above my comprehension, though I am able to discern its superiority over all created things. Some understand Jesus Christ, the end of the law; or martyrdom, the height of charity; or extreme distress, by the word perfection. (Berthier) --- Literally, "consummation." (Haydock) --- I have been exposed to the greatest misery: but thy law has set me at large, Sophonias i. 18. (Calmet)
Ver. 97. Loved. Constraint takes away all merit. (St. Hilary) --- Son, give me thy heart, Proverbs xxiii. 26. (Haydock) --- The just man wonders that he should feel such love, as he knows it is not of his own growth, but a gift of God. (Worthington)
Ver. 98. Enemies of salvation, (Berthier) or the Babylonians, whom Daniel far surpassed; though we would not absolutely assert that it refers to him, Daniel i. 19., and xiii. 1., and Ezechiel xxviii. 3. (Calmet) --- David was no less enlightened (Berthier) by the prophetic spirit above his earthly instructor, how aged soever. (Haydock)
Ver. 99. Teachers. Who do not follow the rules of virtue. The ancients, (ver. 100.) of the same description, must yield the palm to those who are less advanced in years, but more observant of God's law. (Worthington)
Ver. 101. Every. We cannot follow both the broad and the narrow path. (Theodoret) (James ii. 10.)
Ver. 103. Honey. St. Ambrose, &c., add, "and the honeycomb," Psalm xviii. 11. Homer (Iliad A.) compares the speech of Nestor with honey. (Calmet) --- See Proverbs xvi. 24., Ezechiel iii. 3., and Apocalypse x. 10.
Ver. 104. Hated. We must come to the practice of the law, (Calmet) and hate sin. (Worthington) --- Iniquity. Hebrew, "lying." But every sin is contrary to truth. (Berthier)
Ver. 105. Thy word. Jesus Christ, (St. Hilary) who enlightens every man, John i. --- Lamp, (2 Peter i. 19., and Proverbs vi. 23.) while sin is the light of the wicked, Proverbs xxi. 4., and xxiv. 20. (Berthier) --- The law of God, proposed by his prophets and pastors, in the ordinary method of instruction. (Worthington)
Ver. 106. Sworn. By the ceremony of circumcision, &c., as we now engage by vows in baptism, to observe all the commandments. (Worthington) --- Those who receive not the sacrament, are still under a strict obligation to obey the truth; as all were created only for this purpose. (Haydock) --- The psalmist means thus to express his firm determination to do all that God should require of him, (St. Augustine) and renews the solemn covenant entered into with the Deity by his ancestors. (Calmet) (Josue xxiv.)
Ver. 107. Quicken. This petition, with the praise of the law, is the subject of this psalm. (Calmet) --- All the godly must suffer, 2 Timothy iii. 12. (Worthington)
Ver. 108. Free offerings of praise and thanks, (St. Augustine) or the works of supererogation, (St. Hilary, Theodoret, &c.) which are not commanded, though acceptable to God, (Worthington) and undertaken for the sake of greater perfection. (Calmet) --- The evangelical counsels of voluntary poverty, &c., are of this nature. Still we acknowledge that we are useless servants, (Luke xvii. 10.) with regard to God. We can give him nothing, which he has not first given us. Our piety will redound to our own advantage. (Haydock) --- The psalmist may allude to his solemn engagement, (ver. 106.; Calmet) which he made with perfect freedom and willingness, though it was not a matter of choice. (Berthier)